One Fateful Day
by apikachua
Summary: A human being frozen in time to be saved from the great flood that drown the earth. They are awaken to find that they maybe the last of their kind. Will they be able to live among the Inklings or will the last human die off?
1. Intro

-Author's Notes-

So this will be my first romance story. I will see how it will go. Hopefully nothing too badly. Helpful critisim is welcome. I changed it quite a bit. Probably, not here, though. I took it down for a bit to edit the heck out of it, because it didn't feel like my writingand I couldn't get into it. I will update this on a irregularly (or a when I feel it basis) or when people ask, because I am drowning in homework and classwork. Also I am working on my other story, I feel that is my main story. This is all for fun and learning.

Many eons ago, mankind had frozen the ill in hopes of finding a cure in the far future. Several wealthy families chosen to cryogenically preserve their children until they could finally be awaken to live happy and healthy lives once more. Little did they know that everything will be lost to the sea, as sea levels raised up, flooding the lands. All the hopes for the children, and their futures were seemingly lost to the sea. At least that WAS the case.

As sea levels rose, sea creatures had evolved to live above the waters. Two of the widely known are the Inklings and Octarians. They have evolved to built tools, technology and civilizations. It could even be argued that the sea creatures were as advanced as mankind had been.

It had been a year, since the Agent 3 took down the Octarian forces. Nobody had heard from the Octarians since. For Inklings, life had been peaceful and happy. Most of the Inklings would go about their daily life as they usually do. Playing Turf war or Rank battle to be the best of the best, while having a blast with friends. Octarians on the other hand had been struggling to survive. Without the Zapfish, they have lost many of their people. In order to find a way to find to get the much needed energy, they looked into how civilizations in the past got energy. It wasn't long before, they began digging and searching underwater to find relics of the past. They wanted to learn more about those who have lived before them. So they explored and searched underwater ruins, until one fateful day.


	2. Discovery

The Octolings and Octo-troopers got ready to excavate the ancient underwater ruins. Maggie was the leading scientist of the whole excavation. She was checking off the list of supplies and food that everyone on board would have needed. She had a team of twenty. Everybody scrambled around to get his or her tools and gear ready. Mary had just finished contacting the king of the current plans for the dive. She gave Maggie the thumbs up and they quickly set out in the submarine into the sea caves below Octo valley. Mary had been quietly watching people.

"Hey are you okay?" Maggie asked Mary, "you haven't said a word since we set out."

"Oh, it's just that, the king isn't really happy with our progress" Mary rubbed the bridge of her nose, "It's getting harder and harder to keep him on our side to go out on these excavations."

"Well it's not like we have much of a choice. I mean, it's not like the Ink-rings would just hand over their electricity."

"Well, duh, they don't really care for Octarians. But that's not the issue here. If we find nothing today, he may just shut us down."

"WHAT?! But we got so far and found so much down here!"

"Yes, but sadly none of it was of any use to any of us."

"That's not true… We could have found it. It's just that translations are a bit time consuming…"

"Time isn't anything that we have very much of, Maggie. How am I going to keep convincing him? I'm telling you, I don't think I can keep doing this..."

"It will be different this time, I swear."

"I really hope you are right…"

The team finally arrived at the site and the team all put on their gear. Mary set up the communications links between all the units. She stayed in the submarine, to connect everyone to the Octarians back at Octo Valley. The team split up and swam out into the ruins.

The ruin had several buildings and walls taken over by the sea life. Team one swan into a laboratory and began their search. Maggie swam into the deepest part of the laboratory with five other Octo troopers. She began digging through all the rubble, collecting books, and various interesting aged technology.

"WHOA!" one of the Octo troopers accidentally dropped a round object and chased after it.

She chuckled and rolled her eyes. She continued her current task. The trooper suddenly swam back in a rush and bump right into her.

"OW! Watch it!" Maggie rubbed her head.

"M-m-mam! T-t-there in there Mam!" the trooper grabbed her and pulled her into a dark room.

The trooper swam over to a strange machine and shakily pointed to it. Maggie looked at the machine's fogged up glass where the trooper rubbed a bit of it off. She peered into it and saw a figure inside. She screamed and jumped away from the window.

"Maggie! What's wrong?!" Mary called from the earpiece.

She regained her composure and fully cleaned off the fog to reveal a frozen kid. Her fright turned into joy and excitement. She swam over and hugged the Octo trooper.

"Mary! Mary! I found something! Come quick!" she gleefully twirled around and release the trooper, "Quickly, get everyone over here!"

"Yes, mam!" the trooper swam off.

Mary quickly swam to Maggie followed by the rest of the team. Maggie swam to Mary and gleefully hugged her.

"We did it, Mary!" She pulled her to the strange machine and showed her the kid.

"Oh, my- Is that an Inkling?! What is that thing?" Mary put her hands on the glass.

"Who cares?! Just contact the King!"

"Understood, give me a couple of minutes. In the meantime, everyone see if you can clean it up and find more of them. Here Maggie, please take pictures to send to the king."

They talked for a long time until Mary came back. She had a big smile on her face.

"Everyone, the King has allowed the excavation to continue!" she beamed and everyone cheered, "For now, we'll be taking this machine and this thing to the king. So everyone keep digging here. Maggie and I will be taking this to the king. You are in charge."

"Mam!"

The team was able to connect the machine to the small generator and loaded it up into mini UFO. The UFO started up and slowly made it's way back to the Octo Valley's submerged cave. The two flew for a while until they nearly reached Octo Valley. Alarms blared as the UFO lost altitude.

"What's going on?!" Maggie started to freak out as she tried to stabilize the UFO.

"That machine has drained all of our energy! The ship doesn't have enough energy to hold us up!" Mary checked the screen.

"Disconnect it! Hurry!"

"What?! If we do that it may die!"

"IF YOU DON'T WE'LL ALL DIE HERE!"

Mary bit her lip and ripped out all the wires and the ship stabilized for a while, but in the end they still crushed. Luckily, nobody was really hurt and they crashed in Octo Valley, not too far from the King's Palace. The only problem was this area was where Agent 3 defeated Octavio and their troops.

"OWW… Everything is just hurting me today, isn't it?" Maggie whined as she rubbed her head.

Mary went to check on the kid and dropped her clipboard as she stared at a now streaming machine. The machine hissed and started glowing red.

"Maggie?" Mary called out, "is it normal for ancient machines to do this?"

"No, I pretty sure it's not… What is happening to it?"

They cautiously examined the kid and the machine. The kid was skin was no longer blue and the machine was very hot. Red liquid was filling into wires and injected into the kid. The kid suddenly jolted, and his chest started gently moving up and down. The two Octolings stared in awe as the kid was returned from the dead. The machine hissed for a final time and open the window between them.

"It's… alive…" the two looked at each other.

Maggie reached in and touched the kid's arm.

"It's so warm… " She pulled her hand back.

"It's warm?" Mary touched the kid's face.

The kid suddenly opened their eyes and looked at her. Mary jumped back, screaming followed by Maggie. The kid pushed back in their seat, frighten by the sudden outburst. Maggie pulled out her Octoshot and pointed it at them. Kid held their arms out in defense. They noticed the blanket wrapped around its body and took hold of it. Maggie and Mary slowly got closer. The kid quickly threw the blanket at them and ran. Maggie shot at the blanket and tossed it aside. The two chased after them. The kid struggled to run as their weak body ached and stumbled along.

"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!" They looked back at their chasers and tried to quicken their pace.

Maggie shot at their feet, and they jumped over it. They felt a sharp pain in their chest. They slowed down a bit as their vision blurred. Suddenly, Their ankle rolled and sent them tumbling to the side of the cliff. They tried to get back up, only to have Maggie's Octoshot pointing at their head. The kid curled up and tightly shut their eyes.

-Author's Notes-

So what do you think so far? I only changed names here. Should I fix anything? Critism is welcome, but hate will be ignore. I can learn nothing from hate.


	3. Close Call

"Hey, stand up slowly!" Maggie ordered, "No funny, business or I'll shoot!"

The kid slowly stood up and stared at the two. Maggie nudged them with her Octoshot to follow Maroon. Mary stopped and took out her Octoshot.

"We have company" She pointed them at a group of Inklings approaching them.

"What are YOU doing here?!" Maggie growled, "Did you forget that this our territory?!"

The kid took this opportunity to run away as fast as they could. The Inklings just quietly watched them dash off, and decided to distract the Octolings.

"What are you Octo pies going to do about it?" One of the Inkling mocked them, "If you try anything, I'll make sure Agent 3 hears about it."

"Look, we aren't here for a fight alright?" Mary lowered her weapon, "We are just taking this- WHAT?! WHERE DID IT GO?!"

The two Octolings quickly looked around and chased after the now far away human. One of the Inklings called Agent 3 and told her to investigate. The kid ran into the bushes and quietly hugged their knees. They listened to footsteps and angry muttering from one of the Octolings. They waited until everything was quiet before running again.

Meanwhile, Agent 3 muttered to herself angrily as she walked towards the group of Inklings.

"I was having such a good time and then I get a call from Captain. I'm missing my game," she slightly growled, "This better be important"

"Sorry, Bucko. Some Octolings were sighted chasing a… thing. The scientists insisted on getting you to investigate" Captain Cuttlefish patted his back.

"What?! You guys made me miss my game for something this stupid?!"

"Bucko, that thing is pretty hurt. It had a pretty bad tumble down that cliff. It's hurt and confused. Probably, wouldn't be long before it dies."

Agent 3 grinded her fang as her ears lowered. She sighed in defeat and rubbed her arm.

"You are a good kid, Bucko. They ran towards the cave over there." Captain Cuttlefish patted her back.

Agent 3 ran off if she can save the human. She ran through the forest until heard some leaves rustle. She saw the kid coming from the bushes. When they heard twigs crackle, they dashed off. Agent 3 quietly tailed them. The kid was running around the forest until they ran into the cave. They were becoming weaker and weaker, and the Octolings were catching up to them. Agent 3 wrapped her hand around their mouth and pulled them behind a rock. The kid tried to fight her, but they weren't able to break away. She just shushed them as the Octolings ran past the two. The kid froze up as they watched the two stop and search farther into the cave. Agent 3 quietly pulled them out of the cave.

"Whew, that was close…" Agent 3 released them, "You okay?"

"St-stay away from me!" the kid backed up away from Agent 3.

"Whoa, I don't mean any harm! Hey, wait you speak Inkling?!"

They just continued to glare at her. Agent 3 just scratched her head, thinking about what to do next.

"Not friendly are you? Well, hey, I just wanted to help, but if you wanna hang with Octolings then by all means be my guest"

The Inkling started walking away and the kid walked the other way. They took only but a couple steps before they collapsed on to the dirt. Agent 3 looked back and ran.

"Hey! Are you okay?! Hey, wake up!" she lifted their body and shook them.

They weakly opened their eyes as their tears ran down their face. Agent 3 started to freak out. She gently pulled their arms around her neck, and gave them a piggyback ride.

"Hold on, I'll get you some help. Just stay with me okay?"

The kid meekly moved as an attempt to escape. Agent 3 ran as fast as she could back to Captain Cuttlefish. The other Inklings quickly gathered around them. The kid started to tense up the closer they got.

"It's dying! DO SOMETHING!" Agent 3 laid the kid down.

"You caught it?!" Captain Cuttlefish's eye nearly popped out of his head, well more than usual.

"This is amazing!" One of the inkling touched the kid's head and hair, "it has like thousands of really thin tentacles. We gotta examine it and look at EVERYTHING about it!"

"THERE IS NO TIME FOR THAT! IT'S DYING!"

"It's dying? Well, if it does die we can always dissect it"

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY! DO SOMETHING!"

"HEY! BACK OFF!" an orange Inkling demanded, as she made her way towards them.

She knelt down to be at Agent 3 and the kid's level. She held up a stuffed long floppy eared bunny.

"Please… give… it back…" The kid weakly moved to attempt to grab the bunny.

"I figured it was yours," she pulled it away, "I will give it back, but only if you come with us. Understand?"

The kid dropped their hand and slowly nodded.

"Well, you'll be okay, now. Maybe I'll see you around?" Agent 3 smiled as she patted the kid's head.

"Okay, Agent 3 why don't you carry it to the truck?" she stood up.

"Wait what?!" Agent 3 exclaimed, " I have a turf-"

"That's an order..."

"Pft, fine. Come on."

The two say next to each other on the truck. The kid slowly began to drift off as the car ride went on. They soon fell asleep leaning against Agent 3. Agent 3 looked at them. His body was actually very warm. It was like her heated blanket at home, she would cuddle with it as she fell asleep. She unconsciously leaned over rested her head on the kid. The kid's even breathing lulled her to sleep. The orange inkling poked Agent 3, causing her to jolt a bit and become more aware.

"Seems it's taken a liking to you… It's actually kinda cute." she giggled.

"What? It's just tired. With all the running and everything it's been through," she rubbed her side, "It's only normal…"

"Sure, but you on the other hand seem to like it just as much,"

She turn a slight shade of pink on, but before she could argue the orange inkling shoved a crabby cake into her mouth, and patted her head.

"Don't get too comfortable with it. It will be experimented on and there maybe a chance, it'll die."

"Wait, what?! You can't do that! It's a living thing!" she dropped the crabby cake.

"Sorry, science is science. We probably see what it knows first then we'll dissect it to learn about its anatomy."

"I DIDN'T AGREE TO HELP YOU TO MURDER A- A LIVING THING!" Agent 3 growled.

"Hehe, that's what I wanted to see. You really do have a heart of gold. I was just yanking your tentacles. Of course, we're, well at least I'm, not going to harm a, thing on it. That'll just be a waste."

"I hate you… Marigo"

"Whateves, it's so fun to tease you, Char" she wrapped a blanket around the two, "rest, you guys earned it"

She sat there, just staring at the kid's chest move up and down. The kid rubbed his face on Char's shoulder. She leaned closer so the kid could sleep more comfortably. They were strangely about the same height. At first, she looked out the window and tried to stay awake. The warmer she got the sleepier she became. Finally, she fell asleep resting her head on the kid's. Marigo snapped a picture of the two on her phone.

-Author's Notes-

Hey, so 2nd chapter up. So how am I doing and should I fix anything? Thanks for reading!


	4. Running Around Town

The sunlight shined through the window and into Char's eyes. She flopped onto her stomach and hid her face in her puffy pillow. " _Maritime Memory"_ started to loudly play as she tried to go back to sleep. She lazily reached for her phone, and checked the screen to see who was calling.

"Hey, Leon what's up?" She answered groggily.

"DON'T 'WHAT'S UP' ME! CHAR, WHERE THE INK DID YOU GO?!" Leon shouted.

"What? Why are you yelling?!"

"Char… did you forget about yesterday?"

"Yesterday, what about it? We were going to go the Turf War tournament today, right?"

"Char, we entered yesterday… You had to leave for some reason AND NEVER CAME BACK! WE CALLED AND CALLED YOUR SPLATTING PHONE, BUT YOU NEVER SPLATTING ANSWERED!"

Char froze up when she heard that.

"You mean… that wasn't a dream?" she squeaked.

"What the ink?! Char, are you feeling alright?"

Char stayed quiet as she tried to understand what happened yesterday. She suddenly remembered about the kid and the scientists, the turf wars, and everything she thought was a dream.

" _Nonononoononono! Why did I fall asleep?! STUPID STUPID! Don't tell me it died!_ "

"Leon, I got to go! I'll call you back! I promise!" she hung up her phone before he could say anything and jumped out of bed. Her Agent 3 uniform was still on. She quickly changed into her usual outfit, a white hairclip, a lime green short-sleeved hoodie with a white T shirt underneath, a white skirt with green lining, and green sneakers. She dashed out her door, skidded to a stop, and ran back to lock her dorm.

It was a beautiful day, not too hot, not too cold. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Char ran past the tall building in Inkopolis. The sun was brightly shining through the tall buildings of Inkopolis. The smell of the ocean was very strong, since her apartment was pretty close to the beach. She finally got to the train station, and tapped her train card on the scanner to board the incoming train. She got on the train and watched the city pass by. She rushed out when the train stopped at Inkopolis' Research Institution. She ran into the building and the Information desk squid smiled as she welcomed her.

"Hello Char. Ho-" Char interrupted her

"Where's *pant* Marigo?!" Char asked out of breath

"Marigo? She's in the lab. I think..."

"OKAYTHANKSBYE!" she dashed off towards the lab

"Um, kay, see you later Char!" the lady called out after her.

She kicked down the door, and ran into the room. Marigo was drinking some orange blossom tea with the kid still wearing their patient's gown. Marigo smirked when she saw Char, she began laughing as she put down her cup.

"Good *snicker* morning Char, you look like you just got up-"

"YOU!" she ran up to the kid and grabbed their face, "Are you okay?! Are you hurt anywhere?! Did the scientist hurt you?!"

"Char, he's just fine, a few scrapes and bruises, but other than that totally fine."

"He? You're a guy?! You checked?!"

"Yes, he is a male, and he has a name, you know?"

"Oh, uh, right." she became flustered, "Oppsies..."

"Char, can you please let go of his face? That's kinda rude to hold a person's face like that"

She looked at him and he stared back frighten. She quickly released him and started bowing.

"OH MY GOSH! I'M SO SORRY!" She began overly apologizing.

"It's uh, okay?" he rubbed his cheeks, "You are that squid girl from yesterday, right?"

"Huh? Oh, that's right. I met you yesterday. Um, well this is awkward now…" Char started to fidget with her tentacle, "I know, um, can we start over?"

"Hey, I'm Chartreuse, but a lot of people call me Char. Nice to meet you." she held out her hand.

"Dylan, um, likewise." He awkwardly shook her hand "So what are you going to do to me?"

"Wait what?" Char tilted her head

"Oh, he's talking about me," Marigo sipped her tea and put it down, "Well, we just want to know a couple of things."

Dylan's expression got a bit more serious, as he gripped on to his white patient gown. Char took a step back from him.

"First off, what are you?" Marigo continued.

"I am what is considered a human being. What are YOU suppose to be?"

"We are inklings or I guess squids like beings. How old are you?"

"How the HELL am I supposed to answer that? I was frozen so I could live… So… I-I wouldn't… d-die in the flood..." he suddenly grasped his mouth and started to sobbed, "My family… My friends…"

Char felt her heart get squeezed watching him breaking down. She felt so bad for him, but she didn't know what to do. He stood up and rushed over toward Marigo. He got on his hands and knees.

"PLEASE, DO YOU WHAT HAPPEN TO THEM?! PLEASE TELL ME!" he begged, "I CAN'T BE THE ONLY HUMAN! I HAVE TO KNOW IF THERE ARE OTHER HUMANS! I don't want to be alone..."

Char bit her lip, she could feel his sorrow and it shattered her heart. Marigo sighed and took another sip before speaking.

"I'm sorry, Dylan… We have only found skeletons, you are the first and only human we have ever seen alive." She looked away.

"No… THAT'S A LIE! THEY CAN'T BE GONE! THEY, they didn't leave me... all alone..." He looked over at Char, "please, they must be alive somewhere… I don't want to be alone…"

Char ran over and hugged him. She tried to comfort him the best she could. He tightly hugged her as he madly sobbed. She tried to think of something to say. She wanted to give him some sort of hope, but she kept drawing blanks. She became more and more frustrated with herself. Finally, it hit her. They didn't find him, the Octarians did.

"The Octarians found you…" Char muttered to herself, "That's it! We didn't look under the sea. They must be underwater!"

She smiled widely and hugged Dylan with so much happiness. Dylan was confused as Char spun around with him.

"What are you saying?" he asked when she released him.

"Your people must be frozen, like you were, underwater! There is still hope!"

Dylan's face instantly lit up and a huge smile replaced his despair. He tightly hugged her, and the two jumped for joy for a while.

"I hate to be the joy killer here, but if that is true Char, we will have to go into deeper Octarian territory. That would be pretty dangerous."

"I can deal with it!" Char claimed, "I mean I did defeat them before, right?"

"Char, we haven't seen them in a very long time. We have no idea if they are preparing death machines or anything like that!"

"We don't know that until we try!"

"Oh, Char… You never change, do you? Very well, I will see if I can get the scientists to support you."

"Really?!" Char hugged Marigo, "THANK YOU! See? There is hope, Dylan!"

"Thank you so much! You have no idea how much this means to me!" Dylan wiped his tears.

"Well, it is going to take a while anyways, kiddies" Marigo cleaned the small table, and started walking out the room, "It wouldn't be tomorrow either"

"So uh, how long are we talking?" Char crossed her arms.

"Well, to be honest I haven't a clue… a week? a month?"

"Oh… what's he supposed to do? I mean you guys can't just let him rot in his room..."

"Well, we can't have something that isn't an inkling walking around Inkopolis. Everyone will flip out if they saw Dylan."

"I guess you do have a point… still that's kinda unfair..." Char's ears lowered as she rubbed her arm.

"Heh, you're a good kid, Char. But there isn't anything we can do about this now" Marigo patted her head, "For now. I'll make sure he's not bored and is taken care for properly. So just run along, okay? Your friends are probably worried"

"My… Friends?... OH! MY FRIENDS!"

Char rushed out the door as Marigo chuckled at her. Dylan looked at Marigo hoping for an explanation.

"She never changes. She's always trying her best to help everyone, but sometimes she can be such an airhead." Marigo leaned against the doorway, "She means well, but will it kill her to not overdo it every time?"

-Author's Notes-

Yes I know I used "they", "them", and "their". I know I could have used other words. Would you really call another human being "it"? I don't know to me it just doesn't feel right. I didn't really like "he or she" only because it is three words to describe one human. Maybe I'm just being nit picky... Meh, still, I'm not changing the previous chapter. So like before, how am I doing? Should I change anything? Thanks for reading!


	5. What's Up?

Char dashed outside and runs quickly to the train. She slammed her card on the scanner and ran down the stair. She checked her phone to find that the battery was dead. She cursed and shoved it back in her pocket.

" _They are going to kill me… Maybe it's not too late! Maybe they aren't there yet!"_

She nearly missed the train. Everyone stared at her catching breath. She plopped down onto a seat. After the train stopped at her stop, she rushed back home. She slowed down as she reached the stairs to her room. She got her key and opened the door. She feel so relieved that there wasn't anyone waiting at her door. Only to have it dashed, when she saw her friends waited on the couch. They all were pretty upset, but it turned into worry when they saw her.

"Whoa… are you okay, Char?" a bright blue boy Inkling asked.

"Girl, ya need to sit down, before you topple over again!" a violet girl Inkling ran over to her.

"Char, you didn't need to rush back here like that…" a golden orange boy Inkling with glasses sighed, "Leon, go get her some water."

"Don't need to tell me twice!" the blue squid ran over to the kitchen.

"Guys, I'm fine… totally..." Char fell back and the violet squid caught her, "...fine…"

"No, you ain't! Now sit your butt down!" She brought Char to the couch.

"Thanks Jazzy" Char replied, "But how'd you guys get it my house?"

"Oh boy, Char did you forget?" The orange boy smiled, "You are hopeless aren't you? You gave us all a key to your house, so we could stay over whenever we wanted."

"I did, Chizel? When I do that?"

"After we got to S+ rank remember?" The blue squid handed her the glass of ice cold water, "Here, drink this and stop being loopy"

"I'm not... loopy…Leon" She slurred as she drank the water.

"Coulda fooled me" Leon grinned, "so wanna tell us where you ran off to yesterday?"

"Oh I got called by Marigo. She said it was important, but I guess I am done with it now."

"Oh, Marigo? How is that crazy scientist, lady?" Jazzy asked.

"She's good, kinda busy, now?"

"You probably may wanna thank her" Chizel replied, "After you left, she postponed the match for later today. Though, she never explained why."

"No way, she did?!" Char' eyes lit up, "that's means we still have a chance!"

"Yup, better thank her later, kay?" Jazzy patted her head, "Come on let's get some nice clothes for the big game!"

"What? Clothes shopping? No way!" Leon crossed his arms, "I don't wanna carry all your clothes!"

"Yeah, I'm gonna pass on that too" Chizel cleaned his glasses.

"Um, I kinda like my clothes…" Char scratched her face.

"Welp too bad, I guess I won't take ya to grab some DEELISH food after the game" she pulled out a poster for a fancy restaurant, everyone stared at the poster and started drooling, "Well, more for me."

"No! I'm sorry! I'll carry all your bags!" Leon hugged her legs, "I'm sorry! Take me with you!"

"Fine…" Chizel shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Well, I guess if everyone's going, I'll go too." Char smiled.

"Aight! Let's bounce, gang!" Jazzy proudly pranced out of Char's house.

The others looked at each other and followed her out the door. The train ride to Arowana Mall was not as long as the ride to the go to Marigo's lab. When they arrived at the stop, they bought a locker for Jazzy's shopping spree.

"I can't believe this is just the first week of summer vacation." Leon yawn as he stretched, " It started out with a major Turf War tournament this year. It's soo much different than last year. "

"Aw, come on Leon. Last year, wasn't so bad, we got to see a Squid Sister Concert, the best seats in the house too!" Jazzy nudged Char, "All thanks to Char!"

"Not even! My mom chewed me out because of my grades. I spent most of the summer in my room, do you even know how that feels?!"

"It must have been really lonely…" Char muttered to herself.

"Char, you feeling okay?" Chizel asked, "You haven't say a word since we left your house."

"Huh?" She snapped out of it, "No, it's nothing!"

"It's not nothing! You have been acting weird lately" Leon pointed out.

"Yeah, what's on your mind, girl?" Jazzy patted her back.

"No really, it is nothing! It's nothing to worry about!"

"Char. Tell us." Leon put his hands on her shoulders, "Come on, please?"

"...fine..." Char sighed, "I met a guy today…"

"OH! YOU FOUND SOMEONE ELSE TO REPLACE THAT DEMON?!" Jazzy blurted out.

"What?! NO! The guy just seems to be all alone and miserable… I just kinda feel bad for him."

"Is that it? Well, why don't we just pay him a visit?" Leon suggested.

"NO!" Char suddenly exclaimed causing her friends to jolt.

"Whoa, okay girl, but might I ask why?" Jazzy asked.

"It would be- He doesn't like visitors, yeah, so there you have it!"

Char fidgeted with her tentacles as her friends looked at each other and back at her. They just shrugged and smiled back at her. They went on with shopping. Char followed Leon into a video game shop. Leon's eyes sparkled when he saw a game he had his eyes set on for a while.

"No way! Char take a look at this!" he called her, "it was released today!"

"Oh, yeah! You were waiting forever for this game." She smiled, "Are you going to buy it?"

"INK YEAH! You know it!" he rushed to the cashier.

Char looked at the game and picked it up. She couldn't help but think Dylan must be really lonely and bored. She walked behind Leon and waited to be helped.

"You too huh? Good choice, you won't regret it. I promise!" Leon widely grinned

"Oh, this isn't for me… It will be a gift" she bought the game and a game system.

Leon looked at her strangely as they walked back to the locker. He grabbed her wrist. She stopped and looked back at him.

"Leon? What's up?" She asked.

"Char, is there something bothering you? You do know you can tell us, right?" he reminded her, "Did Quil hurt you again?"

"Leon, I'm fine! Quil has nothing to do with this!"

"Are you sure? Well, fine then… I'm sorry..."

Jazzy and Chizel met them at the locker.

"Hey, where'd you two run off to?! I nearly lost track of time, the match starts up soon!" Chizel called out.

"We gotta bounce, and fast!" Jazzy grabbed Leon and Char's wrists.

They were pulled to the tournament. Char decided she was going to sneak away after the tournament, so she could check on Dylan. She truly hoped that the matches would take her friends minds off of her.

-Author's Notes-

Hey guys! I got another chapter done yay! So same as always how am I doing? Should I fix anything? Thanks for reading!


	6. Semi Finals

Dylan watched as Marigo set up a TV. He hid under the bed snuggled up to his stuffed bunny. Marigo smiled and sat down in front of the TV.

"Come watch Char and her friends, Dylan." She gestured at him, " This is just a TV, it don't going to hurt you."

"A TV? What's that?"

"Oh um… It shows video on a screen? I think that's how you would describe it…"

She thought about an easier way to explain it.

"Huh really?" Dylan looked at the TV, "We had holographic screens that appeared when we wanted to watch some shows or 'TV'. Never mind that, what are they doing?"

"This is a worldwide popular game called Turf War. It's usually a four on four match where team tries to ink up as much territory as they possibly can. It's pretty exciting to watch, so how's about it wanna watch with me?"

"I don't really have anything better to do" he rolled his eyes.

"Great, I'll get the popcorn."

Dylan thought the popcorn would be fish or seafood flavored and shuddered. He crawled out and watched four orange squids change form into their humanoid form, and the other dark blue do the same. He took the remote and increased the volume.

"Callie, I understand that this is exciting, but let's not blow up everyone's eardrums, okay?" a calmer and more mature voice replied.

"Aww, how can I not be excited?! This is the semi semi finals! The real question is why aren't you excited Marie?"

"Well, we all know who's gonna win, Sea Stingers. They are looking confident and stylish in orange. We have Nami, fashionable as always, with her favorite weapon the Neo Splash-o-matic. Easelle, a masterful and sleek ninja with her Ink Brush Nouveau. Shan, the unmovable tank with his Dynamo Roller. Lastly the pinpoint master and leader himself, Quil with his E-liter 3K! He has the highest Splat rate of 85%! He rarely misses! Rarely misses! I don't know, if the other team stands even a chance against a team like this one."

"No way! Colorful Coral Reef for the win! Bold blue, and they do things with style! We have Ari and his Octoshot Replica, the squid with a loud bark and bite to match. Link, the quiet and shift, with her Sploosh-o-matic. Cuddlefish a scary, hot headed squid- *Cuddlefish shot at their glass* EEK! I'M SORRY! She is a fashion queen and also a pinpoint master with her E-Liter 3K Scope. Last, but not least Corol! A skillful tactician and leader, who can fight when pushed into a corner. His favorite weapon always by his side, the Aerospray MG. This team will not go down without a fight!"

"And off they go!" the two cheered as the loud buzzer started both teams off.

Dylan watched the inklings paint the area. He became intrigued about the game. He was actually enjoying it. It was exciting. Marigo walked in and sat beside him.

"So I take it, you are enjoying yourself," Marigo offered the bowl to Dylan, "Char's match should be next."

"This is looks like fun…" Dylan took some popcorn and put it in his mouth without thinking, "Char does this for fun? Does it hurt?"

"Well, the force at which the ink is fired is mildly painful. We are made up of ink so if we get hit too much with a different color we'll pop. But we regenerate ourselves at the spawn point."

"Y-you guys pop?!"

"We call it splat. So be hit with too much of different color ink, or water, and we'll splat."

"Does that hurt?"

"Yeah, I guess it does, but not as much as you would think. The ink we are using is mixed in with some water. So nobody will actually be harmed, by the ink at least."

"You guys are weird…"

"You're one to talk. To us, you are the weird one."

The match ended with Orange covering the majority of the area. The two teams walked to the stage where a fat black and white cat danced and pointed to Sea Stingers. Colorful Coral Reef all looked at each other. They smiled and applauded for the winners.

"Hey good match! Hopefully, we can play again someday!" Corol walked up to Quil holding out his hand.

"Please, we'll play if you and your team get better." Quil walked past him.

Corol and the others just watched Quil walk off. Quil's teammates ran over to meet Corol's team.

"I am so sorry about that!" Nami apologized, "Quil, didn't mean it..."

"I don't know about that! What a jerk!" Cuddlefish crossed her arms.

"He's just cocky, please pay no attention to his words," Easelle replied, "You guys were really good."

"Yeah, it was a good game. Let's hope to meet again soon." Shan held out his hand.

"Of course! Best of luck to you guys in the finals!" Corol happily shook it.

"Hey, guys let's go SHOPPING!" Cuddlefish beamed as her team squirms,

"OH HEY ARI I THINK MOM'S CALLING US HUH?!" Corol took a step from Cuddlefish,

"O-OH YEAH! COMING MOMMY!" Ari and Corol took off.

"YOU CAN'T ESCAPE ME!" She ran after them.

Link stood there blinking, she smiled and walked after them.

The Camera returned to Callie and Marie. Callie was pouting and Marie was smirking at her.

"See? What did I tell you?" Marie rested her head on her hand.

"Oh well, no hard feelings. Both teams did their best. At least, next, we have the match of the Summer!" Callie beamed, "Yes folks, it is Storm Strikers versus Sea Stingers.

"No way! No way! Do you know what this means?!"

"Yeah I do! The last match against team Storm Strikers is going to be one you simply can't miss!"

"Yeah, how could you?! We have Jazzy, the sleek chic with her Luna Blaster. Chizel, the cunning and versatile weapons master himself. This time going in with a Slosher Deco."

"Don't forget about Leon! He's rolling out with a Krak-On Roller. He's a video game master, who plays games and turf war instead of doing his homework!"

"Callie… I don't think you were supposed to tell people that… especially considering his parents may have been watching…"

"Oh… errr… opps. I mean just kidding! heheheh...heh."

"Anyways!" Marie stood in front of Callie, "Finally, we have Char! The kindhearted and brave leader. She is going in with her Aerospray MG. She has proved herself to be a force to be reckon with countless times!"

"Alright, let's see what the two teams are up to!"

-Author's Notes-

In my opinion, this chapter not really all that strong. But whatever it's a learning process. So like always, how am I doing and is there anything I should fix? Thanks for reading!


	7. Friendship

The camera shows Char and her friends waiting in the lobby. Leon was sobbing loudly on the floor.

"Whhhhyyyyy…. WHY HAS THE WORLD FORSAKEN ME?!" the poor squid curled into a ball, "My mom's gonna kill me. She's gonna stuff me and grill me alive!"

"I'm sure… um you be fine?" Char patted his back.

"Char, I pretty sure we lost him…" Jazzy shrugged.

"Oh boy, I didn't think this would happen…" Chizel scratched the back of his head.

" Hey Char!" a voice called out to her.

"Hey Quil!" Char brightly smiled and ran over to hug Quil.

Jazzy, Chizel, and Leon glared at him. Jazzy pulled Char back.

"Quil, what do you want?" there was a slight growl in her voice.

"Hey, what's wrong with wishing your friend good luck?" he sneered, "She's MY friend too."

"It's never good when it's with you!" Leon snapped back, "Leave Char ALONE!"

"Shut it, Mama's boy! You aren't the boss of me!"

"Enough! He just wants to say hi" Char interjected, "Geez, what's up with you guys?"

"See? Char's okay with it. Now scram, I need to talk to her ALONE"

Her friends looked at each other concerned, but gave them some space.

"Char," Quil began, "We have known each other for a long time right?"

"Yeah… What about it?"

"We are as close as can be so I wanted to ask you a big favor for my old childhood friend…"

"A-a favor? But our match starts soo-"

"Yes, it's about our match together. Can you let my team win?"

"Wait, what?"

"I want to keep my winning streak intact, you understand, right? After all we were friends for SO long!"

"Quil, that wouldn't be fair to my teammates!"

"Char, who cares about them? We known each other much more longer!"

"I can't do that to them!"

"Humph, I never thought that my childhood friend would choose winning a match over our friendship."

"Quil! That's not-"

"I'll let you choose. Let me win or we wouldn't be friends anymore."

"Quil, that's, that's just not fair! If it were just a match between the two of us, it would be fine. But Jazzy, Chizel, and Leon worked hard to get this far! It wouldn't be fair to them!"

"Fine, you made your choice," he started walking away.

"Quil, come on! Don't be like that! Let's just have a fair game, okay?" She placed her hand on his shoulder.

He swiftly slapped her across her face. She fell onto the floor caressing her cheek. Her friends rushed to her.

"What the splat did you do that for?!" Jazzy snarled at Quil.

"Char, are you okay?" Chizel knelt down beside her.

"Apologize. NOW!" Leon glared at Quil

"Humph," Quil walked away.

Leon was about to go after him, but Chizel stopped him. Char just sat there, stunned. Jazzy helped her up.

"Oh, Char… I told ya, he was bad news" Jazzy hugged her, "Come on. Let's get ya cleaned up."

"Just seeing him makes my ink boil over, to see this happen just bring this to a whole new level." Leon muttered as he kicked a pebble.

"We'll get back at him if we ruin his winning streak."

The two girls went into the bathroom. Char washed her face. Jazzy fixed up Char's clothes.

"Don't be sad, Char. I'll make sure he'll pay." Jazzy patted her back as they walked out, "Cheer up, aright?"

"How can I? I just lost my childhood friend…" Char looked away.

"What type of friend hits their friends for no reason?"

"You don't understand! I'm known him my whole life."

"Char, we really do care about you." Chizel replied, "Maybe we weren't friends as long as Quil was. But that doesn't change the fact that we are your friends."

"Chizel is right." Leon agreed, "I watched you get played by Quil long enough! What kind of friend would I be, if I let you hurt yourself over and over again?"

"We have known each for a good amount of time! We came a long way too!"

"Let's stop worrying, about this" Jazzy suggested, "Let's go out there and just do our best. You can at least do that much right, Char?"

"I- I guess…" Char muttered.

"What was that?!" Leon pointed Char's side causing her to jolt, "Come on leader! Loud and proud!"

"Okay, I'll try my best," Char smiled rubbing her side.

"Now, that's the Char we all know and love! Let's hop to it then."

Everyone walked to their Spawn Point and dove into the bright pink ink. Quil's team dove into a bright green Spawn Point. The crowd cheered as Callie and Marie took the night stage. The turf war arena light up so everyone could see.

"Is everyone ready for this?!" Callie shouted out.

The crowd cheered and tossed confetti into the air. The idols changed into the teams' respective colors and spun around. The screen showed a countdown. Everyone counted along and buzzer started the two teams off. Callie and Marie began performing "Ink Me Up" as the two teams started inking the field.

Char finished covering the back alley and searched for areas that were not covered yet. Chizel swam up to Shan and splattered him with ink. Shan retreated and Chizel chased after him. Easelle splashed up green ink. Chizel yelled, he popped into green ink, and a small ghostly squid floated to the spawn point. Jazzy jumped out and blasted the two. Their ghostly squid floated away. Quil aimed at her and she quickly dove into the ink and swam around to dodge his fire. Char swam past Quil and painted around the area. Quil instantly took his attention off of Jazzy and onto Char. He fired at Char and tossed burst bombs at her. He cornered her and charged his E-liter. Leon jumped out from behind him and squashed him with his roller.

"OH YEAH! THAT FELT SOOO GOOD!" Leon laughed.

"Too soon for gloating!" Char pulled him to dodge Easelle's swipes.

They swam away from her. Shan and Nami stood in the way. Leon smirked and activated his special. He turned into a large Squid. He chased after Nami and splatted her. Char shot at Shan. Easelle came up from behind Char and splatted her. Char cried out before her ghost returned to the spawn point. Quil tossed burst bombs at Leon. Leon swam away and Jazzy swam up behind Quil and splattered him. Chizel brought down an ink strike and the two squid were wiped.

"Come on, we need to ink over their ink too!" Chizel shouted to Jazzy and Leon.

"You got it!" Leon grinned and went off to cover more ground.

"Wait up!" Jazzy swam after him.

Chizel looked around and noticed someone from Quil's team made a mad dash to the other side. He changed into a squid and sucked in some ink and blasted off to the spawn point. Char was standing behind a wall and Quil was calling out to her.

"I'll give you one last chance Char!" Quil shouted at her, "Let us win!"

"...I…" she bit her lip, " I can't! I could have ask you the same thing. Is our friendship worth winning this tournament?! Years worth of friendship, just for a small amount of fame?!"

"Our friendship means something, but not as much as you would think."

"I-I… can't believe it… I was always there for you…" she stepped out from the wall, "I tried my best to make you happy… I willingly let you walk all over me… When I finally stand up for myself and we suddenly can't be friends anymore…"

"It is what it is…" he aimmed his E-Liter at her.

He was so focused on splatting her, he didn't notice Chizel. Chizel tossed two burst bombs at him. Quil hissed and he turned around to try to hit Chizel. Char swam right at Quil and splatted him. His ghostly squid floated up and away.

"Char are you okay?" Chizel ran up to her

"I'll be fine… Let's just get this over with…" She muttered.

Jazzy and Leon's ghost squid returned to the spawn point.

"Oww, they got us good…" Leon rubbed his head,

"Well come on! We can't just stick around here! We need to get back lost turf!" Jazzy grinned, "Right leader?"

"Let's give a final push and give it all we got! So whether we win or lose, we can be proud of the fact that we tried our best! " Char smiled,

"Yeah!" her team cheered.

Callie and Marie switched to sing "Now or Never". They set out and regained a lot of turf. No mattered how much they got splatted, they came right back. They worked together, and splatted and got splatted together.

Finally a whistle was blown and the two teams gather to the stage. Char's team was trying to catch their breaths. Judd did his dance with Callie and Marie. The map looked about even covered. The atmosphere was tensed as everyone shifted to the edge of his or her seats. The lights turned off and turned back on. Judd and the idols pointed to Char's team. The score was 49.6% to 48.6%.

Jazzy squealed and hugged Char. Leon stuck out his tongue at Quil. Chizel quietly smirked and cleaned his glasses. Char patted Jazzy's hands to let her go.

Quil was shouting at his team. Easelle and Shan sighed and stood there annoyed. Nami argued back at him.

Char carefully walked to Quil and held out her hand. Her friends stopped celebrating and stared at them.

"Good game" she looked at him.

Nami motioned Quil to go shake Char's hand. She smiled at Char as Quil made his way to her. Char instantly flinched, when he was in front of her. He struck at her so hard that she skidded across the floor. Nami and everyone's expression changed to shock. The audience gasped and clamored.

"QUIL WHAT THE INK?!" Callie exclaimed.

"THAT WAS TOTALLY UNCALLED FOR!" Marie helped Char up.

"You'll pay for that, jerk!" Leon rushed at him.

"Leave some for me too!" Jazzy followed right behind him.

"STOP! NO FIGHTING!" Callie stood in front of them, "We'll deal with this. Quil, we need to talk."

The idols walked away with Quil. Nami, Easelle, and Shan ran over.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry Char! I had no idea that would happen." Nami dusted Char's clothes.

"Actually, I guess it was not too surprising…" Easelle suggested, "I'm just sorry I didn't tell you guys sooner. I just didn't think he would go that far…"

"I mean he was serious about winning, but to hit his best friend like that… It's just unbelievable…" Shan rubbed his head, "Anyways, is there anything we could do?"

"It's okay, I guess you guys didn't know this was going to happen." Char rubbed her cheek, but cringed from the pain.

"It's not your fault, Quil is a jerk." Leon replied.

"You got that right," Nami agreed, "He would get on our case if the other team lost by a couple points. To be honest, I'm tired of him. So I think I'm quitting this team."

"Yeah, same here." Shan and Easelle nodded.

"But how about we treat you guys to some food after this? It's the least we could do for you guys. We insist."

The Squid Sisters returned with a shiny trophy. They step up on to the stage.

"Sorry for that, folks! We had fixed that up." Callie grinned.

"Without further ado, LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE STORM STRIKERS!" Marie applauded as the crowd went wild.

The team walked onto stage. Jazzy, Chizel, and Leon nudged Char to get the trophy. She looked back at them, confused. They gestured her to get the trophy. She pointed at herself and they nodded. They happily smiled and cheered behind her as she accepted the trophy. She smiled and rushed back to her team and gave them a big hug. The crowd roared with cheer and applause.

-Author's Notes-

This one is kinda longer, but it is the least I can do since I haven't updated in a while. This actually did happen to me, not the slapping, but I did have something like this happen. It's nothing important now. So what do you think? Should I fix anything? Thanks for reading!


	8. Up to a Bad Start

After the ceremony, everyone headed out to the fancy restaurant. There was delicious food laid out everywhere. Leon took no time to grab a plate, and helped himself to everything. Chizel, Nami, Shan, Easelle and Jazzy joined him after setting their stuff down. Char volunteered to stay at the table. She just wanted to be alone for a bit. She drew circles on her plate with her fork.

"Psh! Hey Char!" A hushed voice came from another table

Char didn't hear the voice and kept drawing circles with her fork. The person tossed a grape at her head.

"Hey!" Char looked at Callie who was waving at her.

"I'll watch the table. You go ahead." Easelle smiled.

Char walked up to the Squid Sister's table.

"Char, are you okay?" Callie asked, "you looked so bummed out."

"I'm okay… I guess." Char replied.

"Char, you can't fool us." Marie asked, "You are totally upset about Quil"

"Can we not talk about this, now?"

"Well, just know we're there for you, okay? After all, we owe you one."

"Meow? Meow meow... (That smell? That can't be…)" Judd put down his plate and started smelling Char, "Meow meow mew? (Where were you earlier?)"

"What? I was… with my friends"

"Meow, nya meow mew. Nya nyan, mew meow meow! (Char, you smell like a human. Please Char, take me to them!)"

"A hue-man? What a hue-man?" Callie asked.

"SHH! Can we please talk about that somewhere else!"

"Meow Meow-wow! (Well, come on then!)" Judd took Char by the arm and pulled her away.

"Hey w-wait a minute!" Char stuttered as she got pulled away

Her friends watched Char get pulled away, and the Squid Sister followed close behind.. Leon was too busy devouring his mountain of food to notice anything.

"Hey, let's go after her…" Jazzy whispered, "She has been hiding something. I think it's about time we find out what it is."

"Jazzy, that's none of our business. We need to respect that!" Chizel wiped his mouth.

"Come on Chizel! What if she goes back to Quil? He may kill her this time. She could be doing something SUPER dangerous! Don't tell me you are both okay with that!"

"You… you are right."

"Mmuh mhuhm! Leon nodded with his cheeks stuffed.

"EW! Do us all a favor and swallow your food before speaking to us aight?" Jazzy handed him a napkin.

"Sorry…" Leon wiped his mouth.

"Whatever, let's go!"

"Wait! What about the food?" Leon asked.

"There is no time for that!"

"No way Char maybe hungry! She hasn't eaten today. There's no point in wasting good food!" Leon got some boxes and started packing up the food, "You guys go ahead! I'll catch up in a moment!"

"Leon! Forget it. Come Chizel, let's bounce!"

Char was dragged outside.

"Meow-wow mew meow meeoow (Okay nobody's around, now start talking.)" Judd's eyes glowed

"Umm, remember when Marigo called me out?" Char began, "They found Octolings chasing after a creature. The creature told me he was called a human…"

"The human spoke and you understood him?!" Callie and Marie looked at each, "How is that even possible?!"

"Well apparently he spoke Inkling…"

"That's our agent 3!" Callie hugged Char, "You must have had an adventure yesterday!"

"Meow meow mew meow meow?! (Nevermind that can you bring us to him?!)"

"Um, is that going to be okay?" Char asked rubbing her arm, "I'm sure Marigo won't be very happy about that…"

"Come on Char, what's the worst that can happen? Don't answer that."

"Well, okay…"

"Meow meow meow! (okay I'll drive!)"

"Y-you can d-drive?" Char asked as Judd dragged her away again.

Jazzy and Chizel quietly sneaked after them. Leon hastily ran behind them. The three watch as Char got into a nice car. They turned into their squid form and held on to the back license plate. Judd switched the car into high gear and revved away onto the freeway. Char and the Squid Sister got pushed back into their seats. Chizel, Jazzy, and Leon held on for dear life.

Leon somehow managed to keep the food from flying away. All the poor squids changed to a white as they shook with fear. Finally, Judd drifted into a parking spot. He jumped out of the car, eagerly waited for Char to come out. The Squid Squids stepped up. Callie looked like she had a blast. Marie and Char looked like they saw their lives flash before their eyes. Judd pulled the still dazed Char into the lab.

After everyone left, the quivering squids turned back to their humanoid forms.

"I-I n-n-never w-wanna d-do that EVER again…" Chizel was having a panic attack

"Yeah, don't have to tell me twice…" Jazzy was catching her breath

"At least the food is okay... " Leon joked.

"You dork…" She gently bonked his head, "Come on, let's go."

"What's Char doing at Marigo's lab?" Chizel asked.

"We're about to find out."

Char gently knocked on Dylan's door. She opened it up slowly.

"Dylan?" She asked, "Are you still up?"

"Char? Hey, are you okay?" Dylan walked up to her, "I saw what happened today…"

He stopped when he saw Judd walk up to him. He stumbled back and fell back. Char ran over and helped him up.

"I-is that… a cat?! Why is it so… b-big?!" Dylan stammered as Judd began purring as he rubbed his head on Dylan's hand.

"Purrr… Purrrpurrr…(I missed... this warmth so much…)"

"Whoa! He really does speaks Inkling!" Callie peeked from the door.

"Callie it's not polite to stare!" Marie walked in the doorway.

"More?!" Dylan ran under the bed.

"Hey wait! We don't mean any harm! I'm Callie and this is Marie!" Callie smiled, "We are idols from this place! We are the Squid Sisters!"

"Don't worry Dylan they are my umm friends. They are just… uhh..."

"There are five more of you squid people!" Dylan shook from under the bed

"F-five?" Char turned around to see Jazzy, Chizel, and Leon.

"Ya serious? What is that thing?!" Jazzy walked towards and peeked at the scared human.

"WILL EVERYONE JUST GO SIT OVER THERE ON THE INKING COUCH!" Char shouted, everyone ran over and sat on the couch, "Geez! Dylan, I am so sorry… Today's just been a mess."

Char's eyes filled up with tears. She stood there trying to wipe away her tears.

"I'm screwing everything up! I-I didn't mean to… I'm sorry! I-I..."

"Char, are you okay?" Dylan came out from under the bed,

He walked up to her, but she ran off. Everyone just awkwardly looked at each other. After a while, Marigo and her colleagues came in, and looked at the all squids in the room.

"NO WAY! The Squid Sisters are here?!" Her pink colleague, with her long tentacles tied up, squealed, "Marigo, why didn't you tell me? I would have gotten my autograph book"

"Believe me, Pastelli. If I only knew… I wouldn't be about to kill every squid in this room…" Marigo said through her fangs, "I'll deal with you guys later… For now, help me find Char. She'll be in big trouble if we don't find her."

"Wait why?" Jazzy asked.

"Char left her squidphone here, and it been getting a LOT of messages like this one" Marigo showed everyone the phone.

 **"Char you can't hide forever! You need to pay for what you have done!"**

"Is that a threat?!" Leon stood up.

"If it is a threat, I'll make sure they'll get what for." Marigo's purple spiky tentacled colleagues, "It really ticks me when people pick on the weak."

"Acrilic, you know Char's no weakling right?" Pastelli giggled.

"Regardless, she could get hurt all by herself. Come on everyone!" Marigo began to walk away.

"Hey wait! I want to help!" Dylan grabbed Marigo's lab coat.

"Dylan, squids will freak out if they saw you."

"I can't just stay here knowing Char could be in danger! She saved my life, it's the least I could do."

"I got an idea! Here, wear this!" Leon took the blanket from the bed.

Jazzy grinned and took a pin. She made a cloak and used the pin to secure it.

"There we go, not so fresh, but it will do" she smiled, "Come on dude! Any friend of Char is a friend to us! Let's work hard to find her!"

"Alright, I'll do my best!" Dylan replied.

-Author's Note-

I kinda wanted to finish the cover for this story... but hey whatever... I'll finish drawing the cover eventually...

More cameos. It was going to happen, you all know it.

So how is everything going so far? Should I fix anything?


	9. Target Found

"We'll check out Booyah Base and central Inkopolis" Callie called out as she and Marie ran out.

"I'll check out her apartment, just in case" Marigo rushed out.

"Well, guess that leaves us with around this area" Pastelli replied.

"It makes sense that she couldn't have gotten very far, well on foot anyways" Chizel suggested, "Super jumping is a whole another story"

"Is there some sort of special place to Char? Or some place she really, really likes?" Dylan asked.

"There are many places like that…" Jazzy pondered about it, "Starry Sweets Bakery, she really likes the cakes and pastries there."

"The bookstore? She likes to look at all the cute stationeries." Chizel bit his lip

"Actually, there is one place that comes to mind…" Leon replied, "I remember when Quil hit her, she was so upset and depressed. I was kinda concerned about her so I went over to her apartment. I saw her going somewhere, so I followed her. She went a hill that overlooks Inkopolis. I believe it was surrounded by wildflowers and one lonesome tree…"

"Leon, ya dork! Why didn't ya speak up sooner?!" Jazzy grabbed him by the collar,

"Hey, hey kiddies. There's no sense in fight now. Last I've heard, your friend's gonna be stains on the ground if we don't find her soon," Acrilic cracked his knuckles, "That happens I'm gonna rip you all limb to limb, capish?"

"Y-yes s-s-sir…" The squid teens all ran behind Dylan

"You, Blue."

"M-m-me?" Leon shakily pointed to himself

"Yeah, lead the way. Now!"

Leon sprinted away and Acrilic stared at the other teens. They quickly followed Leon out the door.

"That wasn't very necessary, Acrilic! They're all just kids!" Pastelli scolded.

"Well it worked didn't it? Welp, better check the bakery, just in case." Acrilic took her hand.

"You must really care about Char,"

"Well, she saved our neck quite a bit. Also where I am going to find a new ring bearer if Char croaks?"

"...You're unbelievable…" Pastelli rolled her eyes.

Somewhere on a grassy hill, under a tree, and surrounded by flowers. Char sobbed into her knees. The night was nice and cool. A slight breeze went by now and again. There was enough darkness around to see all the stars. The sound of grass rustling drew Char's attention.

"Who's there?" She called out.

"I knew I'd find you here, Char." Quil stepped out from the grass.

"Quil, what do you want from me?"

"I want to apologize for everything, by giving you a gift."

"A gift?" Char wiped her eyes and looked up at him,

"I hope you like it," he turned away and called out to someone, "Hey, here's your target!"

With that he walked away. Char felt uneasy. She felt another presence. A fin stuck out of the ground as it inked the path toward her. It charged at her at top speed. Char quickly moved out of the way as a shark like figure leaped into the air.

The shark turned into an Octoling in a shark hoodie. She adjusted her hood and glared at Char with her bright green eyes.

"Agent 3, tell me where you took that ancient creature," she ordered calmly, "Either you return it to us, or I'll be more than happy to rip it out from your dying tentacles"

"What are you going to do to him?!"

"That is none of my concerns… I am only to catch the creature alive, at any cost… I will ask again one more time. Where. Is. it?"

"I won't let you hurt him!"

"Very well." The Octoling closed her eyes for a bit and dove into her ink.

Char started to run, but the Octoling shark rammed her into the air. The shark leaped above Char and spiked her into the floor. There was a small pool of magenta ink around Char. The fin circled around her.

"Tell. Me. Where. It. Is." the Octoling ordered.

"No!" Char tried to stand, but the Octoling rammed her back into the floor.

The shark bit into Char's arm, and Char's screams echoed through the hills. Char frantically tried to get free.

"Where. Is. It." The shark's teeth slowly sunk deeper.

"I-I won't t-tell you…" Char growled through her teeth.

"Wrong answer."

The shark threw Char up into the sky and spiked her into the tree. Char was losing consciousness; until the shark took another bite into her other arm. Char screamed again. The shark dropped Char and the Octoling held Char by her neck.

"I am getting annoyed now. Tell me where it is. This is your last chance." Octoling narrowed her eyes, "You will die this time, Agent 3. TELL ME WHERE IT IS!"

Char just glared at the Octoling. The Octoling looked into her eyes for a while. Finally, the Octoling slammed her against the tree, and jumped away. She changed into a shark once again and charge right at Char. Char braced herself.

"HEY YO UGLY! EAT THIS!" Jazzy blasted the shark with her Luna blaster.

The shark was pushed away from her attack. Dylan ran over to Char.

"Char! Are you okay?" He asked as he held her up

"Dylan… You can't be here… You need to run..." Char sat up

Leon tried to splatter from his roller, but the shark shiftily moved away. Chizel tossed splat bombs at her, but she dodged and splashed a wave of magenta ink. All of them yelled and got pushed back.

"More pests…" The Octoling muttered as she changed back and dusted herself off.

"Hey, I'm your target! You leave them out of this!" Char shouted at the Octoling and stood up, "Everyone, please protect Dylan! I'll draw her attention!"

Char took off. The Octoling dove into the ink and a fin chased after Char. "Char!" Dylan shouted and ran after them.

Leon didn't hesitate, and ran after Char.

"HEY! ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Jazzy shouted

"I'll get a hold of Marigo!" Chizel quickly dialed his phone.

Char ran as far and fast as she could. The shark chased closely behind her. Char tripped over a rock and tumbled to the ground. The shark jumped in front of Char, and the Octoling kicked Char's stomach to roll her on to her back. She trapped Char underneath her foot and pulled out an Octoshot from her pocket.

"Die," The Octoling aimed at Char's head.

-Author Notes-

Well, I bet you guys already know who that Octoling is. Yeah, its a different universe so she doesn't know about being a Princess or her other sisters. If you don't know what I am talking about don't worry about it, it's not important really.

Hey, I finally finished the cover for this story! I hope it looks okay. Well same as always and thanks for reading!


	10. Saved by an Umbrella Monster

"STOP! I'M THE ONE YOU WANT!" Dylan shouted at the Octoling.

The Octoling just stared at him as he removed his hood. She reached into her pocket and pulled out another Octoshot.

"Come here slowly." She pointed the Octoshot at Dylan

"You let her go first…"

"Do you honestly think you have any power to order me around?" She began crushing Char

"Okay, Okay! Just don't hurt her anymore… PLEASE!" Dylan walked over.

"I DON'T THINK SO!" Leon jumped at the Octoling and splattered blue ink at her.

The Octoling dove into her ink and disappear for a moment.

"Hey kid, are you okay?" Leon asked, "You go check on Char. I've got your back"

He smiled and kept watch on the area, just as soon as Dylan turned his back, a gust of wind past him. The shark leaped up at Leon and bit into him. It slammed him into the ground. The shark reverted back into the Octoling. She wiped her mouth of the blue ink.

"You are really annoying to capture…" She muttered walking towards Dylan,

"Y-you leave him a-alone!" I'm not done yet!" Leon slowly got up.

"Humph, I guess that warning wasn't enough… Fine." She dove into her ink again and a fin charged at him.

Dylan ran in front of Leon. Leon held on him and turned around to shield him. The shark bashed against Leon's back, sending the two tumbling the ground. Dylan landed on top of Leon.

"H-hey buddy… Are you… okay?" Leon asked as his arms fell to the ground, "I won't... last any longer… I'm sorry."

Dylan watched him quietly close his eyes. He desperately shook Leon. The Octoling walked over to him.

"This would have never happen if you didn't run away…" She replied.

Suddenly ink started firing at the Octoling. She dodged them. She fired back. Suddenly a giant purple umbrella monster attacked the Octoling. It wrapped around her body and sparked. She changed back into a shark and thrashed around.

"Wow she's a feisty one!" The umbrella monster cackled, "Stop squirming!"

"Dylan, are you okay?" Marigo ran over to him,

"Leon!" Jazzy gently lifted him up, "I told ya not to be crazy… Ya inking dork… Chizel! How's Char?!"

"She's pretty hurt… I'm not doctor, but pretty sure we rush them to the hospital."

"NO! YA DON'T SAY!"

"Hey, come on!"

"Hey, I think she's stopping" the umbrella monster replied

"Well from what I heard Sharks stop breathing if they can't move…" Pastelli suggested "Wait Acrilic! Quickly, get off of her!"

He released her and the Octoling was turning blue and not in a good way. She gasped for air and coughed. Callie and Marie handcuffed her.

"Do you know this violates our treaty?" Marie replied.

"You squids are one to talk… After all, that creature was in Octarian territory. You taking him away is considered stealing… Last I check THAT was a violation of our treaty!"

"What were you going to do with him?" Marigo demanded

"Why should I explain myself to you?"

"That's fine, you won't have to talk now, but you're coming with us"

"But first!" Acrilic walked up to the Octoling and pulled her hoodie off.

"ACRILIC!" Pastelli covered her mouth.

"What? Now, she can't turn into a shark…" Acrilic replied, "And she's wearing an undershirt…"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!" Pastelli stormed off.

"Wait come on, Pastelli!" He chased after her.

Marigo looked at the Octoling.

"You are rather thin… for an Octarian mercenary…" Marigo muttered to her

"I'm not one for money if that was what you were thinking… Not like should you really care though…"

After everyone settled down, they returned to the lab. Char and Leon rested in beds that were brought into Dylan's room. The Octoling's metal shark swam around the giant snow globe. Acrilic tapped at the glass to annoy the shark. Char began to stir. She sat up and cringed in pain.

"Char! Are you okay?" Dylan asked

"Where am I?" She muttered

"At the lab… " Marigo answered, "I have to apologize Char, I just didn't think the Octarians would send that thing to take Dylan."

The shark rolled her eyes at them. She just blew out some magenta bubbles as she sighed. Acrilic started making faces at the Octoling against the glass.

"She won't be bothering you anymore! She will be Dylan's new pet."

"If I can even live that long…" the shark muttered as she continued to swim in a circle, "Whatever, at least my suffering will finally end soon..."

"Suffering? Aww, don't be like that Sharkie!" Acrilic replied, "We aren't that bad…"

"Humph, I don't think you stupid Ink Rings understand what you have done… Especially YOU agent 3. Maybe instead of imprisoning our King and releasing him, you should have just nuked our cities and killed us all. We would have all been a better place by then. But you know what who cares? We are all going to die anyways. It won't be long now… It's has already started..."

"What's 'it'? What are you talking about?" Marigo asked,

"Nothing, you Ink rings would care about… Just leave me alone…"

"Will you stop swimming and explain yourself?!" Callie shouted at her

She just completely ignored her and continued swimming in a circle. Char looked over at Leon. He was sleeping comfortably in the other bed. Dylan walked up to the shark.

"Could you at least tell me what you were going to do with me?" He asked

"Please, I was hired to bring you back, unharmed. In fact, they told me to be nice to you. Whatever they wanted from you wasn't to harm you. You were our one chance at maybe surviving... Don't get me wrong; I could have easily killed you and your stupid squids. If I had enough energy to I would have killed them and dragged you back."

-Author's Note's-

hmmm I was running out of ideas for this chapter... Well tell me what you think and if anything should be fixed. If you have an ideas for the chapter feel free to PM me. Thanks for reading!


	11. Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

Some scientists came in and Dylan hid under his bed. They began scanning the shark. The shark still swam around the snow globe. They looked at the scanner and shook their heads.

"You idiots do you really think you can scan through my armor with that old device?" She rolled her eyes, "Don't even bother. I'll die soon enough. Then you can do whatever you please with my corpse."

"Why?" Char stood up and stumbled towards her,

"Why, what?" The shark stopped circling for a bit and stared at her.

"Why are you so desperate to die?"

"Because EVERYTHING was taken from me because of YOU! Everything I had loved, that I cherished was lost. All because you SELFISH GREEDY INKLINGS WON'T SHARE ANY OF YOUR ELECTRICITY! When King Octavio finally got some so we could live comfortably again, you came along and destroyed it. Wanna know how many people died this year because of you? ONLY A SPLATTING COUPLE OF TEN THOUSAND OCTARIANS! Including King Octavio, and my mother. Under the new tyrant, I could barely feed my sister. She probably dead now! So I'm done. Kill me! Just stew me, stab me, burn me, - I DON'T CARE! I just don't care anymore."

She changed back into her Octoling form holding her head. She sank to the bottom and hugged her knees.

"Octavio is dead?" Callie covered her mouth

"What the ink happened to you guys?" Marie looked at Callie

Meanwhile somewhere in Octopia, Maggie and Mary were pacing back and forth, as a small octopus sat in a chair with its tentacles dangling off the edge of the seat. She had a small clam hat covering the majority of her small body.

"It's been too long…" Maggie muttered to herself,

"I told you, she wasn't fit to go out like that," Mary whispered to her, "She was starving and just in horrible condition."

"It can't be helped, Mary! The king had enough with our searching. If we don't get find a way to get power and fast, we'll be next up to the cutting block! That ancient creature was the only thing we had… I don't know where else to look."

"Umm, excuse me? But when Chompie coming back?" The small octopus asked

"Uhh, umm," The two stuttered as they tried to think of an answer, "Say you must be hungry, right?"

"Yeah, but Chompie promised to treat me to a big dinner. She said she was gonna make my favorite dish and we were gonna eat it together."

"Oh, but you can have some snacks while you wait. Here, let us go get you some!" Mary grabbed Maggie and pulled her into the kitchen.

"What are we going to do?!" Maggie bit her finger, "How are we going to explain this to that poor child?!"

A soft growl greeted the two as a black tiger with stripes that looked like cracks in lava. It pushed Maggie down as it pounced on her, and lovingly rubbed it's head on her.

"Cauldern! Not now! Can't you see we are dealing with a crisis?!" Maggie whined as she tried to push the giant beast off.

"Cauldern, look!" Mary pointed a laser pointer at the wall.

Cauldern's eyes dilated as she ran to the wall making a hole in the wall.

"MY KITCHEN!" Maggie pulled her tentacles

"Opps," Mary covered her mouth.

The small octopus waddled into the kitchen holding a flowerpot with a sprout in it. She looked at the gaping hole in the wall.

"Umm is everything okay?" She asked

The two looked at each other and smiled.

"Yeah, we were just playing with our cat… Oh, what do you got there?"

"The plant bit my tentacle when I tried to touch its leaves. Is it hungry?"

"Oh, uh. That's not possible… Plants can't bite. It must be your imagination." Maggie nervously laughed, "Here, I got these blueberries for you!"

She pulled out a small box of blueberries and pushed it into her arms.

"Why don't you relax over there? And don't worry about the plant. There's no way it could move."

The small octopus walked back to the table. She put the plant on the table and climbed up onto her seat. She opened the box and she ate one of the berries. She started to stare off into the distance. Long vines from the pot slithered and pulled the box of berries closer to it. She looked at the box and the vines quickly retreated into the pot.

"I saw that… Are you hungry?" She took a berry and held it in front of the pot.

A turtle's head popped up from the ground. It happily bit into the berry and devoured it. The small Octopus smiled and gave it another and another. The turtle got up from the dirt and crawled out. It was a small tortoise with plants growing off of its back. It grumbled and rubbed its head on her tentacle.

"Hello, my name's Connie. What's yours?" The small octopus asked

Vines grew out of its shell and grabbed a pen. It wrote "Botanical Garden".

"Oh, that is an interesting name…"

"What is wrong, Connie?" Maggie finally returned with Mary, "Garden! You were not supposed to come out!"

Garden only looked at her. It walked to the box of berries and started eating the berries.

"He doesn't scare you? He doesn't seem like a monster?"

"No, not really. He was just hungry."

"You mean you are okay with him?" Maggie raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, he hasn't done anything bad." Connie took a berry and ate it.

"Oh okay… Um, say how would you like to play with my cat?" Mary smiled.

"Wait WHAT?!" Maggie shouted, but Mary covered her mouth

"Yup, my cat is pretty big and quite scary looking, but she is a sweet kitten if you feed her. She like paper balls and everything that will burn."

She whistled and Cauldern poked her head through the door. She walked over and sat down next to Mary. Mary handed Connie a pad of paper.

"Cauldern, why don't you take care of Connie?" Mary patted her back, "Look she'll feed you too!"

Cauldern looked at her then at Connie. She walked closer to Connie and smelled her. Connie held out her tentacle to pet her. Cauldern happily purred as she rubbed her head against Connie's tentacle.

"Aww, it seems she likes you. Well, we need to do something so please take care of her okay?"

"Um, okay sure. See you later then!" Connie waved as they walked out the door.

Connie jumped off the chair as soon as they left.

"Sorry fellas, I can't stay here." Connie gave Cauldern the whole pad of paper, "I can't sit by not knowing what happened to my sister. I'm sorry I've got to go."

Cauldern took the pad and tossed it into her mouth. It burned to a crisp. She just curled up and yawned. Garden grumbled at her. Her ears flickered and she growled back. He climbed down from the table and nipped her tail. She jumped and snarled at him. Garden loudly growled back. She folded her ears back and look at Connie. She let out a sigh, picked up Connie by her tentacle, and tossed her onto her back.

"Whoa! Are you going to help me?" Connie asked and Cauldern nodded, "Thank you"

She hugged the giant tiger. The tiger just huffed and walked towards the door. Garden opened the door for them and waved good-bye to them.

"Thanks Garden! I'll come back I promised!"

Cauldern growled and dashed toward the street of Octopia. The buildings were in ruin and it was dark since the artificial sky broke down. She jumped up ledge to ledge until she reached the roof of a tall building. The city was nearly abandoned and purple ink painted a majority of the city.

"It's so sad how Octopia became like this… I remember it wasn't like this 3 years ago…" Connie muttered, "Never mind that, let's just go find Chompie. She should have my scent, so you can sniff her out right?"

Cauldern gave a soft growl and leaped back into the ground. The two traveled to the cave's opening. And started their journey to Inkopolis.

-Author's Notes-

This chapter was an idea to give insight to the Octarians' point of view in their city. It was dillxox123's idea so thanks buddy. I feel I could continue with another chapter for this week. We'll have to see about that. So what do you think? Should I fix anything? And lastly thanks for reading!


	12. New Friends

Scientist dragged the snow globe somewhere to talk to the Octoling or to get her some help. Leon began to come around. He opened his eyes, and slowly sat up. Jazzy and Chizel ran over to him.

"What? Where am I?" he asked to nobody in general.

"LEON! YA INKING KNUCKLE HEAD!" Jazzy nearly strangled him, "DO YA HOW MUCH I WANNA KILL YOU RIGHT NOW?!"

"I-I-I'm SORRY! I wasn't thinking! I'M SORRY! You're hurting me!"

"Jazzy, come on. He save their lives" Chizel grabbed, "Give him a break."

"Leon, are you okay? I am so sorry, I got you guys into that mess." Char looked down, "It's all my fault!"

"Char, have you been going out on these dangerous missions all by yourself?" Leon asked.

Char's ear lowered and she avoided their gazes. She gripped her arm. Everyone looked at each other.

"Hey, please don't be mad at her!" Dylan stood in front of her, "This isn't any of your faults, it is mine. If there is anyone to blame, it's me."

"We aren't mad," Jazzy sighed and sat on the chair

"You aren't mad?" Char looked up at her friends

"Of course not! To think you are some sort of agent! That's is just SO COOL!" Leon's eyes sparkled.

"Why should I be mad at you Char?" Chizel smiled, "You are still my friend aren't you?"

"I was just worried about ya, but not anymore!" Jazzy poked her nose, "Because ya aren't allowed to go by yourself anymore!"

"What? But-" Char started but Jazzy covered her mouth

"Nope! I won't take a no for an answer! From now on we will go with you on every mission!"

"All right, you win I guess," Char pulled Jazzy from her mouth.

Jazzy grinned and hugged her. Chizel joined in the hug. Leon whined and crossed his arms.

"Hey! I wanna hug too…" Leon whined,

"I'll give you a hug…" Dylan suggested

"Really?! " Leon happily hugged Dylan, "All right! Wow, you are really warm!"

"You are actually kinda squishy."

"Hey, wait! We haven't properly introduced ourselves to you have we?"

"Oh yeah, that's right!" Jazzy agreed,

"Okay! I'll start! My name's Cerulean, but everyone calls me Leon!" Leon smiled.

"Hey, the name's Jazzy, nice to me ya!" She grinned

"Hello there, I'm Chizel" he held out his hand.

"I'm Dylan. It's nice to meet you too!" He shook Chizel's hand, "You guys are rather friendly…"

"Of course! Any friend of Char is a friend to us too," Leon replied, "Hey, we should celebrate! Dylan, see that bag over there? Can you go get it?"

"Oh, sure," he went over and handed it to Leon.

"You must be starving, Char!" He commented as he untied the bag, "Don't worry, I grabbed nearly everything in the Buffet"

"You... can't be serious, Leon… Ya didn't!" Jazzy face-palmed

"Oh, he did…" Chizel sighed and rubbed his temples

Leon opened the bag and pulled out ten boxes all stuffed with food. Char's stomach growled a bit. Char and Leon carefully made their way to sit on the floor. Leon widely grinned as he handed plates to everyone. He gave one to everyone except for himself.

"Um, what about you, Leon?" Dylan asked

"Oh, I'll eat from one of the boxes. Don't worry about me! Please, dig in Dylan!"

"Um, I never… really ate umm squid food before…" Dylan rubbed the back of his head,

"You haven't? Oh, wait… Never mind! It's really good! Maybe we could try to suggest things."

"Why don't you just point to something and we'll tell you what it is," Char smiled

"Oh um, okay… What's that?" Dylan pointed to a crispy looking piece of meat.

"That's fried chicken…"

"You guys have FRIED CHICKEN?!"

"Umm, yeah?" Leon shrugged, " Go on, and give it a taste"

Dylan took one piece and everyone eagerly watched as he took a bite. Dylan smiled a bit.

"It is just like fried chicken!" Dylan exclaimed, "What's that?"

"Salad."

"What about that?"

"Um, fish sticks"

"This?"

"Some steak"

"This looks like pizza.

"You got it!"

The friends continued eating until everything was gone. Everyone spent their time talking. They were watching Leon play a game. Soon they started falling asleep. Chizel slept with his book covering his face. Jazzy rested on her arm on the table. Char, Leon and Dylan fell asleep all on the same bed. Everyone all had happy dreams that day.

-Author's Notes-

Okay, another chapter down. It's kinda short, but I still hope you like it. So now everyone has met each other. So there will be chapters where Dylan gets to hang out with one of the characters. So out of curiosity, which character would you guys like to see hang out with Dylan, first?

Anyways, how am I doing? Should I fix anything? Thanks for reading!


	13. Gaming Rivals and Buddies

The next morning Leon woke up to Jazzy mischievously grinning at him. He groggily rubbed his eye as she showed him a picture of the three sleeping. He stared at the phone dumbfounded. He and Char were hugging Dylan who was just peacefully sleeping in their arms.

"Y-y-you d-delete that picture!" Leon turned a bright shade of pink as he tried to grab her phone.

Jazzy grin grew as she pulled her phone away, and she shook her head. Leon tried to grab her phone again and fell out of the bed. He woke up Dylan and Char. Leon cringed in pain. Jazzy covered her mouth.

"Leon!" Dylan helped him up.

"Opps, sorry about that… I couldn't resist..." Jazzy giggled.

"J-just erase it!" He blurted out as he rubbed his arm

"We'll see… Maybe I can use this later" she smirked

"Mercy! Come on! You can't do this to me!"

"Well, I've got bounce for now. I gotta go help out my folks, today"

"I also got to go. I need to run errands today." Chizel adjusted his glasses, "I'll be back maybe in the evening."

"Okay, so it's will be just you, me, and Char today?" Leon grinned.

"I guess so…" Char smiled as she stretched, "Let's make it a fun day! Oh, that reminds me."

Leon and Dylan watch her scramble to her bag. She pulled out the box and handed it to Dylan.

"Oh! That's right!" Leon beamed, "You got that for him, didn't you?"

"Yeah! I thought you would get bored and lonely sitting in your room all day…" Char sheepishly scratched her head, "So, I got this for you. It's a 3-ink S."

"Uh, a what?" Dylan asked as he opened the box and looked at the bright orange squid shaped gaming device.

"A 3-ink S, it's a gaming device with two screen. A screen that make thing look 3-d on the top and a touch screen at the bottom," Leon laughed, "Makes you wonder why they didn't call it 3ds, huh?"

"Huh, I never saw anything like it… Almost everyone uses VR systems."

"What's a VR system?" Char asked.

"Oh, VR stands for virtual reality. We would just plug it into the computer, and wear the headgear, and boom we were in a game world."

"Seriously?! You got to be pulling my tentacles!" Leon's eyes sparkled as his grin grew wider, "That sounds like a dream come true!"

"I guess, it does have it's perks, but if you ask me… I like the old classic titles. We're talking ancient, even older than me."

"Hmm, what are they like?" Char asked, "Or what is your favorite games?"

"I have a bunch! There is Mario Kart, Professor Layton, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, Garry's Mod, Megaman, Kingdom Hearts-"

He stopped when he saw the two inklings stare blankly at him.

"Wow, you know a lot of games" Char rubbed her cheek

"Yeah, I wish we could see them…" Leon muttered as he daydreamed about it.

A knock at the door, interrupted Leon's day dream. Marigo walked in with Callie and Marie.

"Aww, you guys grew so fond of each other so fast! Could it be love blooming with our little agent?" Callie whispered as she poked Char's nose

"Wha- Th-That's- We're just- That's not funny!" Char turned different shades of red as she fidgeted with her tentacle.

"Aww, she's so cute when she's embarrassed" Marie chuckled,

Char got her hero shot, shot a puddle in the floor, and hid in it. Dylan looked dumbfounded at the lime green puddle on the floor. Marie and Callie chuckled a bit before; Marie reached in and pulled Char out by her tentacle.

"Sorry, sorry. We couldn't help ourselves. Anyways, Gramps wanted us to go get you." Callie grinned as she poked Char's mantle.

"Fine…" Char moved Callie's finger away, "Sorry guys, I guess I have to go too… We'll hang out another day, Dylan. I promise."

Dylan slowly nodded still trying to understand how she turned into a squid. She changed back into her humanoid form and smiled. She followed the Squid Sisters out the door.

"So Marigo why are you here?" Leon asked.

"I need to borrow Dylan for something," She answered,

"Oh. I see…" Leon's ear lowered, "That's cool…"

"You can come too, if you want."

"Really?!"

"Yes, just please don't mess around or the staff will get mad. Now, come along kiddies. We've got work to do."

Marigo brought them to a some sort of metal boxlike object. Leon looked around in amazement. There were futuristic gadgets and random things everywhere. Dylan walked up to the box.

"This is a time capsule…" Dylan muttered

"A time capsule? What's that?" Leon asked

"Well, it's like a storage container that is made to be opened in the future… Usually, there are digital locks on them."

"I see… is there anyway to get it open?" Marigo asked as she wrote down notes.

"If I remember correctly… It can be open after activation with an electronic key or if you can blow the circuits."

"So frying the circuits will open it up?"

"Yeah, all capsules have an emergency unlock in case the circuits don't work anymore. But to unlock it that way make it totally unusable anymore."

"Well, figures as much. Well, hold on. I'll get Acrilic"

She walked away and returned with Pastelli and Acrilic. Pastelli walked up to Dylan and Leon.

"Hey there. I don't think we met properly. I'm Pastelli and this is Acrilic" She held out her hand and Dylan shook her hand, "Wow, you are really warm!"

"Alright, what cha want Marigo?" Acrilic crossed his arms, "We were gonna to have a picnic, before you came and interrupted me. Ow!"

He yiped when Marigo pinched the connector wires into his tentacles.

"Pastelli… hold him" Marigo dodged his strangling hands.

"Marigo! That's not very nice!" Pastelli ran to Acrilic and hugged him.

Acrilic quietly growled as Marigo connected the wires to the lock.

"Pastelli."

"Yes?"

"You have gained A LOT of weight."

"Wh-what?..."

"Amazing, how the floor can still hold you up."

Pastelli's lip started quivering, and she became very teary-eyed as she covered her face.

"I… WILL SPLATTING KILL YOU!" Acrilic's quiet growling turned into a loud snarl.

Leon grabbed Dylan and pulled him behind the desks. Sparks and discharges came from his tentacles as he rushed at Marigo. Marigo jumped over him. The time capsule began smoking and made a clicking sound.

"Oh, it opened…" Marigo dodged his punch, "Thanks guys..."

She dodged Acrilic again and pressed a button. Acrilic got trapped in a snowglobe. He was forced into his umbrella monster form. He thrashed around as he sparked. Marigo walked up to Pastelli and patted her head.

"Good work."

"Thanks!" Pastelli instantly perked up, as she happily skipped to Acrilic, "Heheh, sorry, I always wanted to do that."

"I was just going to ask you normally, but Pastelli insisted." Marigo shrugged

"What?! Pastelli- You- YOU! … Tsk… Fine, fine, you got me…" he blew purple bubbles from under his webbed tentacles, "I can't stay mad at you."

Pastelli giggled and kissed the glass. Acrilic just rolled his eyes but looked satisfied.

"Okay, let's open the capsule up. Dylan won't you do the honor?" Marigo gestured for them to come.

"Um, okay…" Dylan cautiously walked over and removed the lid, "this is a computer…"

"A computer?! No way, that's a computer it's way too small!" Leon peeked over Dylan's shoulder.

"But it is! Here, I'll show you."

All the inkling watched fascinated by Dylan putting the computer together. He started becoming embarrassed as he felt their stares on him. Leon noticed Dylan was becoming uncomfortable. He ran outside for a bit. Dylan continued working on the computer, until an ice cold can against his face, made him jolt. Dylan rubbed his cold cheek as Leon widely grinned.

"Here, I'm not sure what flavor you would like so I just got blue raspberry soda." Leon handed the can to Dylan, "You deserve it!"

"Thanks," he took the can

"So, do you need any help?"

"You wanna help me? Sure."

The two finished up the computer, and they plugged it into a special generator for the plug. Dylan pushed a button and the computer started to hum. A holographic screen and keyboard appeared. Dylan dragged the keyboard closer to him. Leon's jaw dropped as he watched Dylan type into the keyboard.

"Um so is it possible to connect to the Internet?" Pastelli asked

"Well, every computer usually came with their own internet after the free Wi-Fi slowed all technology. So here goes… I guess."

The window popped up with the Google search page. Dylan downloaded some things and it loaded after a couple of minutes. He touched a new icon with a strange fat red man in overalls, driving a strange small car.

"What's that?" Leon asked

"It's Mario Kart" Dylan answered, "Here"

Dylan pushed a holographic controller towards him. Leon poked it and it moved.

"What? I actually felt it" Leon examined the grayish transparent controller, "This is SO COOL!"

Dylan started the game. Leon stared at the screen at the characters select screen.

"Wow, this isn't pixelated at all…" Leon looked at every character, "I like this one! It looks funny."

"Shy Guy huh?" Dylan asked, "I choose Yoshi then."

After Dylan explained the controls, they started the race. Both of them got the boost at the start of the race. Dylan zipped passed the coms with ease. Leon red shelled his way past the comps. They finished the second lap. They would be neck and neck, as they tied to out race the other. Leon would hit Dylan with a red shell. Dylan's banana would in turn bring him back to second. The final lap was even more intense as they two fought for first place. A couple of comps blue shelled them and set them back. Leon quickly made his way to first with Dylan close behind. The finished line was in sight. They were always close to finishing, but Dylan took first place as a blue shell exploded Leon just before the finish line.

"Hey! That was a cheap move!" Leon's ear folded back in annoyance,

"Was not! It's called strategy! You're just mad, you lost!" Dylan stuck out his tongue

"Rematch!"

"You're on!"

They played for hours until Char returned with the Squid Sisters. They watch the two competitively raced. Dylan won again.

"Hey, that's a cool game, can I play?" Callie grinned.

"Sure, but be warned, we are very good at this game." Leon answered as Dylan handed another controller to her, "And we aren't slowing down for you!"

"I just wanna play, I don't care if I lose." Callie sat down

The race started and Callie sped pass everyone. She knocked the other coms out of her way. She reached Dylan and Leon and quickly snaked pass them. She then processed to blue shelling them both and stole first place.

"I win!" She beamed as everyone stared stupidly at her.

"Callie… How'd…" Marie was at a loss for words

"She beat us… both…" Leon dropped his controller and fell onto his side, "Welp, I'm done. Getting beat by a idol who can't drive to save her life, is humiliating enough."

"Hey! That was uncalled for!" Callie whined as Char snickered behind her.

"Never mind Callie, I brought us all dinner!" Char smiled, "Let's wait for Chizel and Jazzy to come back, first. I have some pretty big news to tell you guys!"

-Author's Notes-

Okay, another chapter up! Thanks dillxox123, and write n wrong for giving me some ideas and their support. Well, I hope you guys like it. Same as before. And thanks for reading!


	14. A Rude Interruption

Acrilic rammed his beak into the glass and shattered it. The invisible ink forced Pastelli to change into her squid form. She giggled as she swam away only to be caught in Acrillic's webbed tentacles. They two changed back to their humanoid form. Acrilic was carrying her bridal style.

"Gotcha. You let down your guard…" He kissed her forehead.

"Okay, you caught me." She laughed, "What are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to get my revenge on you… "

The couple walked off somewhere. After a while, Jazzy and Chizel walked in through the door. Everyone took a plate and sat around the table.

"Hey, what's the big new Char?" Jazzy asked, "Ya seemed so excited on the phone"

"Well, Captain heard about you guys," Char began, "and thought it would be wise to let you all join in missions."

"SERIOUSLY?!" Leon grabbed her shoulders and shook her

"Y-yes." Char moved back a bit and patted his hand

"Opps, sorry…"

"Captain said we should go see him tomorrow." Char looked over at Dylan who was quietly looking at the computer screen, "Dylan? Is everything alright?"

"I-I need to ask you guys something… Have you… ever seen something like me before?" Dylan gripped his arm, "There isn't… a single… human, left is there?"

Every squid looked at each other. They didn't know how to make him feel better. They just couldn't put it into words. He sank into his seat even more. Suddenly, alarms went off. Marigo ran into the room.

"There is something quickly approaching." Marigo ordered, "I'm going to need everyone to stay put do not-"

A fireball blowing a hole in the wall interrupted her. Cauldern growled at them as Marigo took out her weapon. Dylan jumped and dove under the bed.

"What did you do with my sister?!" Connie shouted from Cauldern's back

"Your sister? Do you mean the Octoling wearing a hoodie?" Marigo suggested, "She's in critical condition… You keep blasting us and our life supports on her may fail."

"Y-you, you're lying!"

"Don't believe me? I can stop the machine, by voice command. You really want to test me? Look, you seem reasonable… Let's calm down and talk, okay? I will bring you to your big sister, when you come down from that… thing."

Cauldern's ears folded back at that comment. She growled at her. Connie slowly climbed down. She wiped her face with her long sleeves. Marigo knelt down and held out her hand.

"Come on, let's go see her." Marigo spoke softly as Connie wrapped her tentacle around her finger

Cauldern's ear flickered and she ran off somewhere. Meanwhile, everyone followed Marigo into a room. The Octoling was hooked up to an IV drip and an oxygen mask. Connie ran over to her bedside.

"Chompie! Wake up!" Connie shook her sister's arm,

There was no response. The other squids and Dylan peeked from the door.

"Wake up! I'm sorry I came looking for you! Please wake up!" Connie bursted into tears as she tightly held her sister.

"She is just sleeping...We have no interest in killing Octarians… unless you make us…" Marigo sat down, "She was already heavily injured and ill when she arrived. She refused our help and food, until she finally collapsed. This is kinda concerning… What exactly is happening to you Octarians?"

"Ever since King Octavio returned from his failure attempt for energy. A lot of Octarians have been dying… There just wasn't enough power to keep people healthy. Farmers died off so food started to become scarce. So our kingdom became so weak. One day, a group of male Octolings and their emperor stormed the palace. They killed the king and took control of our kingdom."

"They.. What?!"

"Yes, they managed to secure a few zap fish and they started producing food. They told us that if we wanted food, we would have to follow under them. Chompie agreed to work under them. I have no idea, what she was doing for them. I just knew she was very tired and brought back some food for the both of us. She would always eat in her room."

"She lied… She wasn't eating anything." Marigo replied, "Can you tell me what her job was this time?"

"Umm, I-I don't really know… She just told me that Maggie and Mary was going to watch me for a bit. She promised she would make me all of my favorite dishes when she got back. I-I didn't know she would end up like this..."

Dylan walked closer to the tiny crying octopus. Connie flinched as he picked her up. He gave her a hug.

"...Are you sick too?" she asked, "You are very warm."

"No… but I get that a lot." Dylan answered

"You are a funny looking Octoling…"

"What? I'm not an Octoling… I'm a human."

"Hue… Men? What's a hue-men? You do seem nice… So I guess you aren't as mean as Inklings are..."

"Hey! That's speciest…" Leon whined

"Says the species that sent Octarians to their doom…" Connie muttered from Dylan's shoulder.

Char bit her lip and lowered her ears. A soft knock on the door and muffled yelling interrupted everyone's thought. Mary opened the door and walked in.

"Marigo." Mary greeted

"Mary." Marigo walked up to her

The room was tense, as the sparks seem to fly between the two. Nobody dared to say a word as they approached each other. They were just inches apart.

"It's been quite a while, wouldn't you have some tea with me?" Marigo smiled

"You haven't changed a bit. Of course, I will" Mary giggled.

"WHAA!" Maggie's jaw dropped as Cauldern held her by her lab coat, "You two know each other?!"

"Of course, we are rivals after all. Cauldern, you can put Maggie down now."

"But… she's-" Jazzy stuttered

"An Octoling and I am an Inkling?" Marigo rolled her eyes, "Yes, I am very aware of that fact. Doesn't mean, I have to hate her. That would be irrational."

"Assume you all must have question for us?" Mary asked, "You always serve tea when you want to talk."

"You know me so well… " Marigo placed a cup in front of her, and poured some tea into it.

"Relax Maggie. She wouldn't hurt us. We are safe here. Come, have some tea with us."

"If you say so… but if they do anything-" Maggie put her Octoshot away.

"Cauldern will feast on every last one of them."

"It… eats… squids?" Leon turned white.

"Yes, that is what she is designed for… or at least she was" Mary took a sip of the tea, "She won't attack unless I tell her to. She doesn't need to eat though, she burns for energy, watch."

Mary crumpled some paper and tossed it to Cauldern. It burned up into nothing as it made contact with her body. Mary noticed Dylan. He quickly darted behind Char, and Char stood in front of him. Dylan began shaking behind her.

"I figured you would be here. I am very sorry about threatening you. You must have questions for us too, yes? Maybe I could help you, if you can help us."

"Of course! You Octarians found Dylan right? Are there anymore of him?" Char beamed,

"... There are not… I am sorry… Strong earthquakes damaged all the pods that were found in the underwater ruins. The occupants all drowned. You were the only one alive."

Dylan just stood there. He fell to his knee as his tears fell to the floor. He held his head.

"I-I am the only… one…" Dylan sobbed, "Everyone… I knew… Everyone, I've loved…"

Char tried to comfort him. Leon put his hand on Dyan's shoulder. Dylan hugged Char tightly as he cried into her shoulder. Leon hugged him too.

"I am sorry…" Mary replied, "Your race may have perished, but please… You are our only hope to keep our race alive. So please… can you tell me how your race got energy?"

Dylan stayed quiet for a bit as he took deep breaths. He got up and walked to Mary.

"Can… you take me to the place you found me?"

"What?"

"I-I need to see it for myself… I need to say… goodbye. One last time..."

"Understood, I'll take you there." Mary smiled as she wiped the tear from his eye.

-Author's Note-

Eddguy: I guess you are right, but I wanted go about this by in a different approach. In this story, I wanted it to be all about how Dylan bonds with the inklings/Octarians. It wouldn't be much of an adventure story. Also it is kinda my first time writing a romance story too. I'm sorry if it gets boring or if starts to suck... I am learning... and clearly out of my element (I think...)

Well, if there is anything I should fix, let me know. And don't be afraid to tell me what you think, thanks for reading!


	15. To the Lab!

"Mary, how are we going to do that?! Our stuff is back at our lab!" Maggie pointed out

"Botanical Garden wouldn't mind helping us"

"That stubborn turtle doesn't listen to anyone! He rarely listen to you!"

Maggie yelped as Garden bit into her finger.

"Well, that's normal. I'm not his master, after all."

"Y-you aren't? Then who?"

"That would be me…" Marigo replied, "I let Mary borrow him so she could harvest some of the plants on his back. My guess, he bit you every time you got close to them, huh?"

Garden grew to the size of a medium sized dog. There were grass and small trees on his shell. He crawled to Marigo and rubbed his head on her. Marigo smiled and handed him an apple. He happily accepted it and ate it whole. A small tree that beared small red fruit emerged on his shell.

"So explain to me how that turtle is going to take us there without us all drowning?" Maggie asked, "He's so tiny! He can't possibly-"

Garden huffed and a vine bopped her head.

"Tiny? Yeah, you haven't seen his true form have you?" Marigo laughed, "Come, I'll show you."

She walked outside and everyone followed. They just looked at each other as Marigo picked up a watering can. She started watering Garden. He dug into the ground and tunneled somewhere.

"Great… He ran away…" Maggie crossed her arms.

"No, there just was not enough space here." Marigo smirked as she jumped into the air.

Vines emerged from the ground and pulled everyone into the ground. When they finally were pulled into the light and they could see was fruit and vegetables. They were somehow in a forest of edible plants.

"WHERE ARE WE?!" Maggie screamed

The trees are all fruit trees? Is this a forest? How did we get here?" Chizel cautiously wandered around.

"I'm in heaven! Food everywhere!" Leon cheered as he tried to pick a blueberry.

A vine smacked his hand.

"Ow! Hey..."

"Garden only shares with people he trusts." Marigo sat on a vine swing, "From what I remember he was fond of Char."

"M-me?" Char pointed to herself

"Yeah, back in the day. Your mom would make me babysit you. At one point you keep throwing the vegetables you didn't like to him. He would happily eat them and let you ride on his shell. You would sometimes sleep on his shell."

"Huh? Mom never said anything about that…"

"Course not! She would kill me if I told her that a mutant plant turtle was playing with her only child."

"So where is he?" Jazzy asked,

"Well, you're standing on a small part of his shell. Everything you are seeing, actually growing on Garden's back. His name's not Botanical Garden for nothing."

"What- That's not-" Maggie stammered.

"How big is this guy?!" Chizel's eyes sparked for a minute, "I want to explore every inch of this shell! I need to know everything about this"

"Whoa, don't get your socks in a bunch" Jazzy bopped his head.

"Come on Jazzy. Where your sense of adventure? This is pretty exciting!"

"Heh, it will take you weeks to get from his head to the tip of his tail. He is VERY big. Well, enough delay… Let's head off for Mary's lab."

Only a light thump could be heard as the "ground" shook. Everyone grabbed a hold of something stable as the gigantic turtle slowly make his way to the sea. The waves looked like ripples from the height. After a while Garden began swimming out to the deep ocean.

Char noticed that Dylan hasn't said a word for a while now. She walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey are you okay?" she asked.

"I… guess I don't really know…" he sighed, "It's just kind of hard to take in… I can't be the only one left… I don't want to be alone…"

"You aren't alone. You have everyone here. Just because we aren't the same, doesn't mean we can't be friends. Hey, maybe, there are humans out there. You guys seem more advanced than the Octarians. Maybe you guys went to outerspace!"

"Heh, we did… There was a couple of people who landed on the different planets."

"You guys been out there?! No way!"

"Oh, you bet! They did such interesting projects and experiments. Like growing potatoes on Mars."

"Um, what's 'Mars'?"

"It's a planet, the red one next to ours."

"What else did you humans do?" Chizel seemed very interested

"Well, we finally explored the deepest part of Marianas Trench. We found so many interesting and dangerous creatures down there."

"What Mari on as Trench?" Leon asked as he tried picking an apple

"It's the deepest part of the ocean! It goes down so deep that no light can surpass the water. The pressure is enough to crush submarines if they are not reinforced with special materials."

"That sounds amazing! It sound like an exciting expedition!" Chizel exclaimed, "So what else did you guys do?"

"We could create superconductors." Dylan responded

"What is a superconductor" Chizel inquired.

"It is a super cold material that has no electrical resistance, you can send an electrical current through it and as long as it is below below certain temperature the electricity will never stop flowing, even without as source of power. Though the material has to incredibly cold, like near absolute zero."

" So I guess it would not be very practical to use" Maggie sighed

"What other things could humans do?" Char asked

"We were able to travel through time." Dylan suggested

"WHAT?! You gotta be pulling my tentacles now! That's not possible!... Is it?" Jazzy bit her lip

"It is called time dilation, though we could only move a few femtoseconds into the future… We couldn't travel backwards. Have you Octarians ever done anything like that?"

"Uh… no…" Maggie scratched her head, "I never heard of something like that. Still as much as I would like to experiment on this subject. I don't have the necessary energy to do so."

"Energy? Like electricity?"

"Yeah, we Octarians are sometimes infused with technology to improve our health. Without electricity we are doomed to die out."

"Did you guys ever think of solar power? You know getting energy from the sun. There are actually a couple of different energy sources. Our main source of energy, be it a hazard to the earth, was burning fossil fuels."

"Burning fossil fuels? What is fossil fuel?"

"Fossil fuels are the remains of ancient animals and plants from millions of years ago that either compressed into a flammable substance called coal, turned into gases, or liquefied and became oil. But we burned all of it, causing the earth to heat up and raise the sea levels. So… if do find any fossil fuels… don't use them. Just leave them alone."

"I don't think ya have to worry about that. We have something called Zap fish" Jazzy explained, "It has been providing us with electricity forever now"

" Zap fish?"

"Yeah, for centuries Inklings have been using electricity from Zap fish to power all of our cities."

"Could you tell us more about your "solar power" and other way to make electricity?" Mary asked.

"Of course I can."

"Don't leave out any details!" Chizel took out his notebook and got closer to Dylan

Leon started to climb up the tree. He looked around, before climbing back down.

"There's some land over there…" Leon smiled, "Does this mean we are really close to Octopia?"

"Is that so?" Mary climbed up and looked around, "Oh yeah, there's your house, Maggie."

"Okay, so it is getting pretty late…" Marigo replied, "So I guess we'll have to stay here for the night. Is that alright with you Maggie?"

"That's Magenta to you! We aren't exactly buddies you know." She put her hand on her hip, "But I guess it would be fine… "

"Come on now, Maggie. She's really nice." Mary climbed down from the tree,

"Humph, whatever you say, Mary"

Garden started shaking again as the thunderous thumps made their way onto land. Vines wrapped around everyone and put them gently on the floor. Everyone looked up at Garden. They only saw a huge Garden huge tree bark like leg. They looked like ants compared to Garden. He shrunk down to about half the Inkling's size. He nudged Char's back with his nose.

"Whoa, how'd you?" She got interrupted by him chewing on her tentacle, "Hey! Stop that!"

She started running around and Garden just watched her. Cauldern's eyes dilated and chased after her. Cauldern pounced on her and picked her up by her vest.

"Hey!" Char whined

"Hahaha, sorry Char. She's a kitten at heart." Mary giggled.

"My turn!" Leon dashed past Cauldern.

Cauldern placed Char back on the floor, and chased after Leon. He ran between Dylan, Jazzy, and Chizel. They too started running for their lives.

"LEON YA DORK! WHAT WERE YA THINKIN?!" Jazzy yelled at him

"I'm sorry! I wanted to play too!" Leon grinned.

"I never agreed to this!" Chizel cried out.

Cauldern picked up Dylan by the back his shirt. She curled up with him and started grooming his hair.

"Umm, help?" Dylan tried to escape Cauldern's grasp.

"My turn! My Turn!" Leon turned into a bright blue squid and jumped up and down in front of Cauldern.

Cauldern released Dylan and caught Leon. She started grooming the back of his mantle. He squirmed around.

"It tickles!"

"Ya are such a dork!" Jazzy rolled her eyes

"Yes, he is. But he's OUR dork." Chizel smirked

"What's that supposed to mean?" Leon whined

"Don't worry about it"

"All right, come on kiddies. Let's get inside and rest for the night." Marigo followed Mary and Maggie in.

Cauldern picked up Leon by his fin and followed her master.

"Hey, wait for us!" Jazzy ran in followed by Chizel, Char and Dylan.

They looked around at the inviting living room. There was a simple layout. A coffee table that sat in front of the very comfortable couch. A large flat-screen TV was mounted on the wall in a way that everyone could get a view of the screen. There were several flower pots with fake plants in them. Maggie was picking up the clothes and crumpled paper balls. Chizel twitched a bit, but regained his composure.

"I'm sorry for the mess." She tossed the things off into her room, "I never really expected any guests."

"Your house is very pretty." Char replied, "Thank you for letting us in… Even though..."

"Look I guess… I maybe was a bit too harsh to you guys." Maggie sighed, "It's just happened between the Octarians and the Inklings…"

"I understand… I had no idea what I did… I'm sorry"

"To be honest, it wasn't anyone's fault." Mary replied, "We've just been fighting too long. Did any of you know that we used to live alongside each other?"

"Yes, I believe I read that somewhere in the library" Chizel answered, "It had been over a couple of centuries since, right?"

"Very good… You do your research, don't you."

Chizel smiled sheepishly.

"So… what's with the sudden change of heart?" Jazzy asked.

"Well, our situation has become quite dire…" Maggie admitted, "I got desperate, but then I remembered reading about an ancient civilization that wasn't powered by any Zap Fish. I thought if I could find out how they did it, I could save Octopia."

"Thanks to Dylan, I believe we have what it takes to make Octopia a better place." Mary patted him on his back, "We don't really need much from you anymore, so I thought it would be best for you to stay with Marigo in Inkopolis. It's much too dangerous for you here"

"Especially with those creeps running the city. Luckily we have cloaked our house so it looks like a normal cliff to all outsiders."

"Creeps?" Char asked

"Those rotten Octarians that serve under the tyrant Luscas…" Maggie narrowed her eyes and looked away, "They have been robbing everyone's goods and forcing others to work under Luscas."

"Look, maybe it's best to not talk about them." Mary suggested, "Let's just get a good night's rest and head out early tomorrow, okay?"

"So how are we going to do this?" Marigo asked

"Hmm, there is one extra guest room…" Maggie pointed out, "So maybe all the kids can sleep in there?"

"Sounds like a plan. Come, I'll show you the room." Mary walked down the hallway.

Everyone made their way into a dusty room. Chizel nearly flipped out.

"No, no, no! This won't do!" Chizel shoved everyone out and slammed the door

The Octolings and Marigo looked back at Char, Jazzy, and Leon. Cauldern pounced on Leon again.

"Oh, Chizel's kind of a HUGE neat freak" Jazzy explained, "He can't stand dirty. It's funny how turf war doesn't cause him to freak out, like this. Don't worry he's pretty fast."

"Heheh… Good kitty" Leon patted her paw as she groomed his tentacles tied back

"Annd done." Chizel opened the door again, and untied the bandana from his head, "This is much better"

"Whoa, it does look much better" Mary blinked, "I have never seen the floor so shiny before"

"I'll say" Maggie muttered, "Anyways, there are two bunk beds in the room. So boys on that side and girls on the other side."

"Course, it doesn't have to be that way. It's not like we'll be watching or anything" Marigo smirked and winked.

"Wait what? What if-" Mary covered Maggie's mouth

"Let's not talk about that. Good night, guys. Come Cauldern, leave him alone."

Cauldern ran to Mary and the adults left the room. Jazzy climbed up into the top bunk and Char took the bottom one. Leon took the top and Chizel and Dylan took the bottom on the other side. It wasn't long before nearly everyone fell asleep. Char was tossing and turn as she tried to go to sleep. She always had a hard time sleeping without her heated blanket. She laid on her side facing the wall. Dylan noticed her and carefully got up without waking Chizel. He made his way to Char. She jolted a bit when he hugged her from behind.

"You were cold right?" Dylan asked.

"Dylan-" Char whispered

"It's fine. I have a hard time sleeping sometimes too."

"Thanks" She moved closer to him.

The two soon fell asleep. Just like how they first met. They slept peacefully, and neither one was cold anymore.

-Author's Notes-

This Chapter is a lot longer than the others... It's the least I can do for not posting as often as I would like. School's a pain that way. So same as always, what do you think? And should I fix anything? Thanks for reading! Sorry for the delay!

Actually I just thought about it if you guys wanna play splatoon with me my nintendo ID is corolful, other games my main account is the same username. If you want to talk to me on skype its the same as my username here. **Please** **no calling/video** messages only (still a bit uncomfortable with talking with new people. Just until I can become more comfort with chatting with you. It may take a while). This way you guys can get faster replies to questions, or if you just wanna talk. Just tell me you are a reader from one of my stories when I ask who you are. Please be respectful to me or I will block and or remove your contact.


	16. A Helpful Serving of Teasing

Char woke up to her Chizel and Jazzy all staring at her and Dylan. She turned pink and changed into a squid and hid under the pillow. Dylan woke up from the pillow moving.

"Oh, um good morning guys" He said when he noticed them smiling, "Hey where'd Char go?"

"You two seem to have a nice night together, huh?" Jazzy rested her head on her hand

"What?! He- I just couldn't sleep! It was cold!" Char stammered from under the pillow. Dylan removed the pillow to see the flustered squid try to swim away. He picked up her squishy body.

"Char is that you?"

"Yes, it's me. Oh I didn't tell you I could change into a squid, huh? I hope I didn't freak you out." she gurgled

"I have seen Leon do that too… It's pretty interesting...You guys are kinda cute… like this."

She flashed pink and wrapped her tentacles around her face.

"You guys are cool to the touch and feel like a slimy water balloon. I'm sorry, it's just I never seen anything like this."

"Oh, it's okay. I understand."

"Umm may I?"

"S-sure." she flashed pink again as he touched her tentacles.

He took one of the shorter one between his fingers. The tiny suckers stuck on his finger and released him. He petted her long tentacles and hugged her. She changed bright pink and started squirming.

"D-Dylan!" she was changing into a red color

"I couldn't help it! You are so cute and squishy"

"Th-th-this is embarrassing… Please let go… "

"NO WAY, YA KEEP IT UP! CHIZEL QUICKLY GET THE PHONE!" Jazzy teased

"NO! STOP IT! LET GO!"

"Got it!" Chizel snapped a picture, "I'm pretty proud of this one actually…"

"Mercy!" Char cried out, "Why are you guys doing this to me?"

There was a knock on the door and Marigo opened the door. She smirked when she saw Dylan hugging Char.

"Splat me…" Char seemed to deflate when she looked at Marigo's smirk

"Oh, my did I catch you at a bad time, Char?" Marigo laughed.

"Marigo!" Dylan released Char and she changed back to her humanoid form.

"Nope, ya should have come earlier." Jazzy snickered, "They were all cuddled up together sleeping, it was SO cute!"

"Oh I got a picture of that too!" Marigo pulled out her phone, "You see the first day they met…"

"SPLAT MEE!" Char pulled her tentacles

"Are you guys done torturing the poor kid yet?" Maggie come into the room, "Come on breakfast is ready! We need to get going right after."

Maggie noticed Leon still sleeping in his bed. She whistled and Cauldern pounced on him.

"Whoa!" He jolted as the giant cat purred.

She carried him out of the room. Maggie followed them out. Marigo laugh and pulled Char out of her green puddle.

"Sorry, Char couldn't help myself," Marigo scratched the side of her mantle, "I love you Char"

Char sighed in annoyance as she changed back and Marigo patted her head. She left followed by Chizel and Jazzy. Dylan scratched his head and sheepish smiled.

"I didn't mean for this happen… I just wanted to hug your other form"

"I- I guess I just am not use to it…" She fidgeted with her tentacle, "Well, come on let's get some food before everyone eats everything"

Leon was whimpering as people tried to feed him. Jazzy and Chizel were knocked out and foaming from the mouth.

"CHAR DYLAN RUN AWAY WHILE YOU CAN- Muph!" He shouted as Mary shoved a spoonful of pancakes

Leon started choking and fell over. He started foaming from the mouth. Mary looked confused.

"Hmm, I just put some cinnamon in… Why is everyone acting so weird?" Mary looked at Cauldern who happily ate the pancakes just fine.

"I'll give it a try," Dylan took a bite of it, his eyes watered as he tried to swallow it, "Its… not… so bad…*urp"

Char also took a bit of it. Her eyes rolled back and she started foaming from her mouth. She curled up into a ball on the floor.

"Mary… what did you put in the pancakes?" Marigo covered her mouth

"Well, we ran out of flour so I grounded some dry coconut into a flour. There also wasn't any milk so I had to use coffee. We had eggs but they were boiled… So I mashed it up with everything. I found some cinnamon and poured the whole thing into it"

"Oh… I have a better idea! Let's ask Garden for some fruit!"

Garden sniffed at the pancakes and stuck out his tongue. He waddled outside and grew to his large form. He pulled everyone on to his shell. Some clouds appeared above Garden and started a light drizzle. Everyone snapped out of it.

"Water thank goodness!" Maggie sat up, "I was just tasting it, and I thought I was going to need a hospital."

"Arroo!" the cloud flew down and surrounded Maggie.

"Hey, Wind thanks for the water."

"I can't feel my throat…" Jazzy coughed

"I think I am seeing things… That cloud's getting hugged by Maggie…" Chizel rubbed his eyes.

"Aoo?" the cloud solidified and reveal a very long bug like dragon with long antennae.

"Gi-gi-giant! BUG!" Jazzy quickly climbed up a tree.

"Aoo…" Wind floated after Jazzy

"Trade Wind's not exactly a bug…" Marigo explained, "She's a tapeworm, more parasitical that a bug. Well not any more… She lives in inside Garden to regulate season and weather patterns. She absorbs excess water that could rot Garden and uses the air to make rain when needed. She's pretty playful."

Wind scattered into water vapor and bumped against the tree. Jazzy fell on to Wind's back. Wind happily flew around with Jazzy screaming her head off. Wind flew down and Chizel pulled the poor fainted Jazzy off of her back.

"Opps, the more afraid you are the more interested she'll get." Marigo smiled "She quite curious about everything."

Wind seemed puzzled as she nudged her nose at Jazzy's arm. She mewed as she flew around her. She stopped and looked at Chizel. She touched her antennae on his body. She softly head-butt against him. Chizel petted her head and she happily rubbed her head against his hand.

She took his glasses and flew off with them.

"Hey! I need those!" he ran after her.

She wrapped her body around him and pecked him on the cheek. He took the glasses from her mouth. She unwrapped herself and flew fast past everyone summoning gust that harvested some fruit on the tree. She gathered all the fruit and wrapped her body around it. Marigo petted Wind and took some fruit.

"Come get your breakfast, guys!" Mary smiled, "Before you only get pancakes for breakfast"

"Don't forget to say thank you!"

Jazzy woke up again and froze when she saw Wind. Wind noticed her and bit the stem of an apple to hand over to her. Jazzy's tentacles stood on end as she bolted off. Wind cooed curiously and flew after her with the apple.

"EW! EW! EW! GET IT AWAY FROM MEE!" Jazzy was hysterical

Wind wrapped her body around Jazzy and pecked her cheek. Jazzy was frantically crying and passed out again. Wind tilted her head in wonder as she dropped the apple in Jazzy's arms. She touched her antennae on her body. Wind noticed Dylan hiding behind Char. She grabbed some fruit and flew over to them. She dropped the fruit at their feet. Dylan flinched as her antennae touch his face. He held out his hands in defense and Wind rubbed her face on them.

"Oh, she just wants to be petted" Char replied and started scratching behind her antenna.

Wind landed and arched her head closer to Char. She created a small rainbow as she cooed.

"Hey can I pet her?" Leon asked, "Can I, Can I?"

He scratched under her chin and she happily chirped. She eventually curled up around him and took a nap.

"Well, looks like she tired herself out. She can be such a kid sometimes." Marigo chuckled after she took a bite from the mango.

"Is that, that bug gone?" Jazzy looked so out of it.

"She won't be bothering you for a while, see? She's sleeping." Char replied eating some pears, "She's really nice… Look she gave you an apple"

Jazzy shuddered and handed it to Chizel.

"I think I've just lost my appetite," she muttered

"I think she is fascinating!" Chizel beamed as he examined her antennae, "I wonder how she works? Could she take me all over Garden?!"

"She probably could, but that will have to wait for another day." Marigo touched the bark on a tree, "Garden, Wind is sleeping again do you mind tucking her in?"

A low grumble and vines gently pulled Wind into the ground. The vines then threw everyone off of his shell. He shrunk down to his normal size and looked up at Char

"Those pears were delicious. Thank you so much!" Char knelt down to his level.

He lowered his head and looked back up to her.

"Come on enough playing around, let's go everyone," Maggie pointed to a small round submarine.

Cauldern and Garden watched everyone board on to the submarine. It was very roomy inside. Mary walked to the controls and started pressing some buttons. The sub started humming. Maggie closed the hatch and made her way to her seat.

"We welcome you board the SS. Sonar Octo Sub, or the SS. SOS!" Maggie called out over the PA for no reason in particular.

Dylan started snickering. Everyone looked at him.

"SOS stands for 'save our Souls,'" he answered

"Hey that actually make so much more sense now" Mary giggled, "So much better than your name."

"Whatever!" Maggie rolled her eyes, "Please buckle up your seat belts until the light turns off then you will free to roam around cabin while we travel at free roaming speed."

"We thank you again for choosing SS. SOS. I always wanted to do that."

"Yeah, well here we go."

Everyone put on his or her seat belt and the sub started rumbling. It started tilting and started diving. It was so the ride was so bumpy. Leon started to look pale.

"Leon, are you okay?" Dylan asked

"I… don't feel so good…" Leon groaned

"Neither do I…" Char held her head.

"Oh, that's right! Char get motion sickness" Marigo suggested, "I totally forgot."

"Well, hold on a bit longer." Maggie called out, "We are almost at the right speed. Don't you dare puke in here! I will make you clean the whole sub!"

"Okay speed obtained, you guys can relax now..." Mary closed the seat belt lights.

"I still don't feel any better…" Leon changed into his squid form and slid onto the floor.

"Whoa, you two look horrible…" Chizel pulled Leon back up

Dylan put his hand on Char's forehead. It was warmer than usually was.

"Char you're warming up…" He let her lean against him.

"I figured this would happen. Maybe it would be best if you take a small nap."

"I'm too dizzy to sleep…" Leon looked dazed

"Me too…" Char muttered

"I know, change into your other form, Char " Dylan replied

"Okay…" She changed into her squid form.

Dylan picked her and Leon up. He walked over to Maggie and Mary.

"Excuse me, do you guys have any towels or blankets?" He asked them

"Yikes… they don't look very good." Maggie looked at the squids "Yeah, they should be in the supply closet"

He walked into a door with an unread sign.

"Could one of you read this for me?"

"Bathroom…" Leon muttered

"How about this one?"

"Break room…"

"This one?"

"Supply Closet…"

He opened the door and put the two down. He took a beach towel and picked the two up again. Dylan walked back to the seat and put the towel on the seat. Char seemed to already fallen asleep in his arm. He gently put them into the towel and wrapped them. Leon moved around a bit before Dylan held them in his arms. Leon soon fell asleep beside Char.

"Awww they look like babies…" Jazzy snapped a pic of the two.

"You guy are born squids?" Dylan asked

"Well more like hatched. At the age of fourteen we gain full control of our humanoid form and squid form." Chizel answered, "Can humans change too?"

"Err… no." Dylan put Char and Leon down on the seat.

Jazzy gently poked Char's mantle, and the green squid moved, and nuzzled closer to Leon. Jazzy scratched Leon's fin. Leon stirred a bit and hugged Char. Jazzy smiled widely. She snapped another picture.

"Okay destination is a couple meters away." Mary chimed in, "Please put on the proper gear, before disembarking. Gear can be located in equipment room near the control room where we are."

"Oh, hear that kiddies?" Marigo walked ahead to the equipment room, "Let's get suited up"

"Wait! We're going out there?!" Chizel looked out the windows, "That sounds so exciting!"

"Yeash, it's dark…" Jazzy muttered, "What about these two?"

"I got this. I'VE MADE BACON!" Chizel shouted

"BACON?! WHERE?!" Leon squeezed the ink out of Char, "Ch-Char?!"

"Let go of her you dork! She can't breathe!" Jazzy slapped the back of his mantle.

Leon quickly released her. She changed back to her humanoid form and gasped for air.

"Char are you okay?" Leon gurgled.

"Why'd you do that for?" Char picked Leon up.

"I'm sorry I heard there was bacon… I got too excited… Sorry."

Marigo pulled Char up and handed her a rubber suit. She tossed another at Jazzy.

"Hey where's ours?" Chizel whined.

"Well, you will have to go see for yourselves," Marigo covered her mouth.

The three boys looked at each other. Everyone made his or her way to the equipment room. Mary covered her mouth.

"I am so sorry! I just remember the guys were messing with girls so the girls..." she held up a rubber suit tan rubber suit with a loin cloth painted on it, "Oh my…"

"Oh it can't be as bad as this one…" Maggie pulled out one with a bright pink bikini painted on it.

Mary pulled out a couple more all painted with inappropriate things painted on them. The boys looked at each other.

"You won't catch me dead in that thing" Leon crossed his arms

"It's true they are a bit… There aren't any other suits?" Chizel rubbed his head

"Hmm let me go through them again" Mary started looking through them again, "We do have girl rubber suit… do you want to use them?"

"... For the sake of curiosity… Fine… Let's get on with it…" Chizel muttered as he and Leon took the girls suits. Dylan took one too and went to get changed. The boys returned and looked at each other.

"Hmm this isn't all that bad…" Leon looked at his legs, "It's pretty comfortable, but it makes me itch in certain places"

"Mine is a bit tight… but Beggars can't be choosers huh?" Chizel pulled on his collar.

"As long as it works then it should be fine" Dylan scratched the back of his head.

"Okay everyone grab a helmet." Maggie pointed to them, "be sure to bite down on the mouth guard to activate the air flow and the seal that connect the helmet to the suit. You can let go of the mouth guard without worry. It will keep converting water to air. To take it off just pinch the indent under your chin. It will release the seal. Doing so underwater may harm or kill you, so don't be stupid. All right I'll be showing you around so please stay close and don't wander without me. I won't be responsible for lost kids… If you somehow do get lost touch the side of your mask to contact Mary. She'll be in the ship monitoring us. Let's get going then."

Everyone followed Maggie to a room made up of windows.

"Okay, everyone put on your helmet and bite down" She pressed a button and a metal plate closed off the exit as water began flooding the room. Everyone bite down and the helmet attached to the suit. All the squids shudder for not being accustomed to being in water without splatting.

"I'm not splatting? I'M NOT SPLATTING!" Leon happily swam around the room

"This is amazing!" Chizel looked around everywhere.

Char smiled but noticed Dylan staring out at the ruins below. She swam over and put her hand on his shoulder.

"It use to be so lively…" He muttered

"We haven't seen them yet there's still hope." Char took his hand, "At the very least, you will know the truth, right?"

"You don't have go through this all alone," Leon grinned, "We've got your back."

Dylan smiled. Char realized she was still holding his hand and quickly released it. The room opened up and Char quickly swam behind Maggie.

"Come on let's go!" Chizel swam after Char.

"Wait up!" Jazzy followed

Leon smiled at Dylan and the two went to catch up with the others. Maggie led them into a futuristic broken down building. They dove down into the darken caverns.

-Author's Note-

I am on a roll with this story. Thanks to dillxox123 for supporting and helping with the stories. It made writing the chapter much more fun and easier. I wrote 4 times as much than I usually write (~4000 words Yay! New record!). I have decided to split the chapter into two separate chapters. Here is the first one. I could just post the second chapter, but I think I'll make you wait until the next week. Just because I can.

Anyways what do you think? Is there anything I should change? Thanks for reading!


	17. Going Under

"Here we are, this is the place we were looking when we found you" Maggie pointed to pods. Dylan swam up to it and dusted off the nameplate.

"Vincent Morun" he read, as he checked the machine, "It's has… no power"

"It can be possible that an underwater earthquake caused a malfunction in some of the machines keeping them alive." Maggie replied rubbing her arm, "We didn't check all of them… Maybe some are okay?"

Dylan started checking all the machines. He was desperately looking for an undamaged pod. The Inklings and Maggie could only watch. They hadn't a clue what to look for. He stopped at one. He slowly dusted it off and whimpered.

"An-Andrew…Lehrer… " He desperately checked the pod, "No… No… No!"

The window was cracked. The boy inside looked like he was peacefully asleep, but the body was surrounded by water. Dylan started crying as he placed his head against the glass. He looked to the side and noticed another pod. The pod didn't look damaged. He swam to it and dusted it off.

"Angela… Atanyagul…" He looked into the glass to see a long black haired girl wearing glasses sleeping.

She was hugging a black stuffed bunny. Her pod looked undamaged, but the screen was softly blinking. Dylan pressed on the screen. The screen showed her status, it read heart failure and deceased on it. He started crying as he placed his hands on the glass.

"She… She's dead… She died and she promised she would see me again… She can't be dead… Not like this!"

Char swam to him and hugged him. He held her tightly as his tears streamed down his face.

"She can't be dead! She promised! She promised she wouldn't leave me all alone!"

"Is there anything we can do Maggie?" Leon asked her

"I can try to revive her… but the chances for that… isn't very likely." Maggie just looked away and shook her head, "I don't know how long she has been dead for or if I can possibly understand how she died."

"We wouldn't know if we don't try!" Leon swam to Angela's pod, "Maybe we can save her!"

"You can?" Dylan asked.

"We can try… What do we need to do?"

"The screen says she died from heart failure. It's not possible to save her unless we have a human heart that produced compatible blood for her"

"How is that possible if she was frozen? Her heart would have been stopped when her body was frozen. Technically her heart would have already been stopped and therefore failed"

"If her blood wasn't drained properly it could have froze and damaged her heart"

"What do you think, Mary?" Maggie press the side of the helmet

"To revive a heart damaged from freezing?" Mary replied, "I guess I could try. The thing is… I'm not a doctor, let alone a human one."

"I'm a doctor!" a small voice squeaked

"Who are- Connie?!" Maggie exclaimed

"Hello, I had to bug you guys… because you wouldn't stop lying about Chompie. Nevermind that I am a doctor. I can help you as a thank you."

"A octoling that hasn't even gain the abilities to control her form yet is a doctor?!" Maggie face-palmed.

"I can prove it. Here"

"I actually can't believe it myself… I was watching her perform surgery on her sister" Pastelli replied, "Chompie is now in stable condition"

"I'll take it… Okay just disconnect the machine carefully. I'll call Trade Wind to fetch someone..."

"Oh the scary mister? He wouldn't stop glaring at me."

"Well I hope you don't mind Acrilic" Marigo smirked

"Wait what?" Acrilic asked, "I never agreed to this"

"It's an emergency, have a heart Acrilic"

"Tsk, fine… So how am I supposed to get there?"

A familiar trill echoed from the mic.

"Hey you let her go!," Acrilic growled.

"Hehehe That tickles!" Pastelli laughed as Wind wraps her body around Pastelli

"Arooo" Wind looked at Acrilic as he tried to grab her.

She flew away from him. She scattered to water vapor. She appeared behind him and wrapped herself around him to stop him from attacking her. He sparked and tried to shock her. She just tilts her head, and cooed. She touched her antennae on his body. Pastelli walked up to her and held out her hand. Wind touched her antenna on Pastelli's hand. Pastelli petted her. Wind released Acrilic and cuddled up with Pastelli.

"Well, there's your ride…" Mary replied, "She's a bit childish… but at least she's quick. Stop messing around Wind bring them here"

"Aroo!"

The transmission cut and Maggie looked at all the squids staring at her.

"Well alright let's get that pod out of here!" Maggie passed everyone a tool, "No time to lose! Go go go!"

"Right!" Everyone quickly got to work.

They started removing the pod. Chizel returned to the sub to get a spare battery to temporarily connect the pod to. They connected everything to the battery and made their way back to the sub. They secured the pod to the sub.

"Okay will Char, Leon, you're not going to like this but we'll be going up to the surface quickly. It's going to VERY rocky"

Char and Leon looked at each other in dismay. They just sighed and sat down. The sub quickly started to surface. It was shaking so hard that everything in the sub bounced around. The sub finally reached ocean's surface. Leon and Char looked horrible. The sub quickly docked at Maggie's house and everyone except for Leon and Char got off.

"D-don't wor-*urp* worry about us we'll catch up…" Leon groaned

Acrilic, Pastelli, and Connie waited for them in the lab.

"This your house are you nuts?!" Pastelli covered her mouth, "You can die living here!"

"Which makes it cheap." Maggie replied, "That's not the problem. Could you supply energy to that device?"

"Humph, if it make Pastelli happy to save someone, then I guess it couldn't hurt to lend a hand" Acrilic replied

"You're the best!" Pastelli kissed his cheek

"Well okay." Mary connected the cables to his tentacles, "Okay Dylan, let's open it up"

"Okay," he pressed some buttons and the machine started heating up.

The machine hissed as steam blew out of it. Red liquid was injected into her body, but she still didn't move or stirred. The door open with a hiss, and a book fell out from pod. Dylan picked up the book and opened it. There was drawing and sketches of video games and various of other things. Dylan's tears fell onto the page with two yellow rabbits with thunderbolt tail.

"You can't die… You can't be dead… You were always there for me. We're always playing together. I want to spend more time with you..."

"You are going to have to move Dylan…" Connie smiled as she placed her tentacles on his shoulder, "She'll be in good hands. I promise…"

Dylan walked to the room they were staying in. Jazzy gave him a smile. Char groggily sat up and went to go give him a hug. Leon joined in the hug. Dylan just held them tightly as he sobbed in their arms.

"She must have been someone so special to you..."

"Andrew, Angela, and I were the best of friends. We grew up together. We would played video games all the time, forget about homework until last minute. We had good days and bad day, but not matter what we were always together…" Dylan stopped for a minute to take a couple of breaths, "Until the sea started making its way into the main land. Our family became worried, and we were sent into a lab to be frozen. During the our time there. We made a promise that we would hang out like we always did. Angela made us each a stuffed bunny. I got a white one, Andrew had a spotted one, and Angela had a black one."

"Oh I see. What were they like?" Char asked

"Andrew's kinda a goofy guy. He would do the dumbest things just to make us laugh. He could be quite an airhead at times, but totally loyal. When he wanted something it was hard to get him to think about something else. He could be lazy and stubborn, but he was a kind guy. Angela is rather quiet and shy when you first meet her, but after you get to know her, she's pretty outgoing. She loved to make things and draw. She would always try to brighten everyone's day. She would listen to everything you would have to say. I really miss her voice."

"They sound like very nice people, Dylan. Don't worry I'm sure she'll pull through just fine." Leon grinned, "If she's anything like you, she's tough!"

"Hey, how about you rest Dylan?" Char suggested, "You must be exhausted from swimming everywhere, right?"

"I guess I am kinda drained… Physically and emotionally." Dylan replied

"Here, why don't you just take a nap?" Chizel patted the bed, "I'll get you when your friends is up and about."

"Okay, I guess…" He climbed into the bed, and Leon pulled the covers to Dylan's chest.

"Have a nice nap, okay?" Char smiled, "Everything will be okay."

"Um, Char, Leon, could you stay here? I just don't want to be alone right now."

Leon and Char looked at each other, but smiled at Dylan.

"Of course, we'll stay." Leon messed with his hair, "Whatever you want, buddy."

"Char, could you hold my hand… just until I sleep?"

"Um… Oh, o-okay" she gently held his hand, "Like th-this?"

"Thank you"

"N-no problem…" she sat on the bed, looking away.

Jazzy and Chizel walked outside and gently closed the door behind them. It wasn't long before Dylan fell asleep. Leon sat down beside Char and quietly watched Dylan's chest move up and down. Char noticed Dylan started crying in his sleep. She changed into her squid form and squeezed between his arm and wrapped her tentacles around him. Leon squeezed in too. He also hugged Dylan. Dylan tightly held them until his tears finally stopped. When he was finally peacefully resting. Char and Leon changed back and quietly watched him.

"...What are we going to do if she doesn't pull through?" Char whispered, "He'll be crushed"

"For now there isn't anything we can do, but wait and hope for the best." Leon looked back at Dylan

-Author's Notes-

... I don't really have much to say here... Yeah I know there is something about this chapter that's off... Real people's names, beside Dylan's. IF you know who these guys are PLEASE DON'T MENTION WHO THEY ARE... They'll kill me... then I wouldn't be able to write anymore ( from embarrassment mostly). (Except for Dylan. He's cool with it). Thanks by the way Buddy!

Anyways what do you think? Should I change anything? Thanks for reading!


	18. Loss

Dylan woke up to Char and Leon looking at him with a sad expression on their face. They looked at each other.

"Hey… Dylan…" Leon tried his best to not look so sad, "We… we have some bad news… Angela… She didn't make it…"

Dylan shook his head. Tears filled his eyes as he kicked off the sheets and rushed out the door. He made his way into the lab. He opened the door to see her body covered with a blanket. Everyone looked at him. He slowly made his way to her. He touched her arm and gently shook her. Her body was still a little bit warm, but she wasn't breathing.

"No… This isn't fair… Angela! You can't die! You can't be dead!" Dylan cried into her clothes.

"I am so sorry Dylan…" Connie looked down, "I did the best I could, but I just didn't have the things needed to keep her body alive. Her body went to shock when we tried to replace her heart with one of ours. She went into shock and wouldn't respond anymore"

"I really thought… I wouldn't be alone anymore… I never thought I would ever have to say goodbye to her… I never wanted this... I don't want to be an endling!"

"An endling?"

"It's a term… we human used for the last member of a species. Once the last member... dies. The species is gone..."

Chizel and Jazzy just stood there quietly. Pastelli was crying in Acrilic's arms. Char walked up to Dylan. She placed a hand on his shoulders.

"Please… I want to be alone…with her... I want to say goodbye…" Dylan removed Char's hand.

"Okay… We'll give you some space" Marigo took Char and everyone left the room.

"Angela… That day we meet…" Dylan sat down, as his tears ran down his face, "We didn't get along at first, but after a while of talking and playing with each other we grew really close. All those days we spent together… they meant the world to me. You cheered me through even the hardest times. You and Andrew made me feel like I was… Somebody. I wish those days wouldn't end… I want to go back… I don't want to say goodbye… I know that you are in a better place now, but I really miss you. You must think I'm selfish… But I can't help myself… I'm so sorry I never…told you how I really felt… I just couldn't bring myself to tell you… So I guess I'll tell you now… I've really liked you."

Dylan covered Angela's body with the blanket again, and walked outside. Nobody dared to make eye contact with him. He went back into the room and sobbed on the bed by himself.

Char peeked from the door, and quietly closed the door. She made her way to Garden. They walked outside together. Everyone seem quietly sat down in the living room trying to do things to take off their minds. Cauldern seemed to be trying to comfort Leon, as she curled up next to him.

Garden grew to his island size and gently pulled Char in the flower field in the center of his shell. She took off her shoes and sat down as she looked up at the stars. She was trying to think of what to do. She couldn't help but to feel so sad for Dylan. She wanted to help, but where could she began. This had never happened before, she didn't have a clue what to do.

"Aoo?" Wind flew beside Char.

She chirped as her feelers wiped Char's tear.

"I don't think you would know how to fix this would you?" Char petted her

The giant worm chirped again and flew off. She returned with some fruit. She nudged them towards Char.

"I'm… not hungry…" Char muttered.

"Aroo…" Wind curled around Char, resting her head on her lap.

Garden made white and golden flowers bloom all around Char. The night breeze was so clean and fresh. Char quietly patted Wind's head. She rested her back against the flowers, and looked up at the stars, until they were blocked out by dark clouds. Not too long after it began rain. Char grabbed her shoes and ran under a tree. She watched the lightning flash in the distance. Garden made sure Char stayed dry by thickening the leaves in the tree. Wind flew up into the sky and absorbed the lightning that was going to hit Garden. Char rested her back against the tree. She began singing _Maritime Memory_ to herself.

Dylan heard a small and soft voice outside. He looked out the window, but he couldn't see who was singing. He only saw the giant island turtle out in the sea. He quietly listened to the voice. It reminded him of his friend that died. The song lulled him to sleep. He was about to fall asleep, until the singing stop. The rain seemed to have stopped. He peered out the window to see Char making her way back inside.

When Jazzy, Chizel, Leon, and Char entered the room, Dylan pretended to be asleep. Everyone looked at him, and went up to their beds. Leon slept on the floor, with Cauldern. Char went back to her bed and moved all the way to wall. She wrapped the blanket around herself and slept facing the wall. Jazzy fell fast asleep on the top bunk above Char. Chizel quietly read a book above Dylan, but after awhile he passed out too.

The night was quiet only the waves could be heard. Dylan finally fell asleep and started having a nice dream about playing with Angela. They were drawing together. Until the floor started filling up with water. Dylan and Angela stood up as the water rose up to their ankles. Dylan grabbed her wrist and ran up the stairs. They kept running up the stair with kept spiraling upward, with every few steps the boards would fall into the rising water below. The water rose up faster and faster. The boards fell under Angela's feet and she collapsed into the water. Dylan held on to her hand as best as he could. She looked down to see the water was coming closer and opened his hand with her other hand. She smiled as she fell into the water below.

"ANNGGEEELLLAA!" Dylan bolted awake and bumped his head against Char's face.

Char yipped as she held her nose.

"Char!" he looked at her, "Are you okay? I am so sorry!"

"I'm… Okay" Char rubbed her nose, "The real question is are you okay?"

"I… no…." He started crying again and hugged her, "I miss her… "

Char flashed pink for a bit, but just hugged him back.

"I am so sorry, Dylan…" she finally replied, "But even if she's gone. You won't be alone… You have us"

"But… I'm- I'm a human!"

"So? What does that have to do with it?"

"You don't understand, Char! I can never fit in with any of you! I-I-I can't do the things you guys can!"

"Maybe you don't understand us… We have already accepted you, just the way you are. We are friends aren't we?"

"Char…I can't- We can't be friends! It was never supposed to be like this!"

Char became quiet and she slid down off the bed.

"I see… If that's how you really feel. I'll leave you alone." She walked back to her bed.

"It's only for the best… I don't want to be the one to hurt anyone anymore. I don't want to be hurting anymore"

Char bit her tongue as she gripped the sheets tightly. She curled up facing the wall, as her tear soaked her pillow. Dylan faced the wall and hugged his pillow. Neither of them slept that night.

Char got up very early and went outside without saying a word. She left only a note behind. She woke up Garden and asked if Wind could take her home. Garden looked concerned but didn't argue. Wind grew in size and rubbed her head on Char's. Char climbed on her back and Wind flew into the skies. Wind dropped her off at her balcony, and looked at her full of concern. Char only petted her and unlocked the sliding door and went in. Wind watched her for a bit before scattering into water vapor and flying back to Garden.

Char went into her room. She turned on her heated blanket, and changed into her pajamas. She wrapped herself in her blanket. She shook as she began sobbing. She let her tears soak her pillow. Her small whimpers and hiccups were muffled by her blanket.

"Why can't we be friends?" she murmured, "Was I even a friend to you at all? We are different… but why does that mean we can't be friends?"

She hid her head under her pillow, until she finally cried herself to sleep.

Back at Maggie's house, Dylan woke up to Jazzy, Chizel, Leon, chatting among each other. Leon was holding Char's note in his hand.

"Shouldn't we do something?" Leon asked, "I don't feel right about this…"

"Leon, look. I know Char. When she needs to be alone, there isn't a thing we can do." Jazzy pointed out.

"Yeah, I tried to find when she was upset the first time." Chizel scratched his head, "She would run away from me every time I found her. She didn't even come home that day, because she knew we would be there."

"Did you even read it?!" Leon started reading, "'I need to go away and be alone for a while, but take care of Dylan for me. I'll be fine. Please, don't come looking for me.' This doesn't sound any alarms to you?!"

"Leon, there isn't a thing, we can do when she gets like this. Look, Char isn't crazy, and she can take care of herself."

"But-"

"Leon. Just give her some room." Jazzy stated

"She …" Dylan rubbed his temples, "She went away because of me…"

"Dylan- You did this to Char!?" Leon asked, "Why… Why would you do that?!"

"Leon, I-I don't think… I mean… We can't be friends anymore."

"...wha- What are you trying to say? Yeah, I thought we were friends! I honestly believe we could. What are you trying to say?"

"We were never meant to meet… We could never understand each other! We are not meant to be friends!"

All the squid just quietly looked at him. Leon's ear folded back, and he plopped on Char's bed. Jazzy and Chizel stood there for a minute and looked at him. They both left the room. Leon only glared at Dylan. Leon sighed and put the paper into his pocket. He just put the pillow on his face and laid on his back. They stay quiet until finally had to leave. Chizel explained about Char to the scientists. Wind happily chased Jazzy around the house. Finally Marigo grabbed Wind's antenna. Wind yipped and stopped flying around after Jazzy. Marigo sat on her back.

"Come on everyone! Get on, we should get going before it gets late again." Marigo called out.

"We're g-going o-on th-th-th-that b-b-bug?!" Jazzy bit her finger, "NO! NUH-UH! NOPE! NO WAY!"

"Come on! This way is faster and safer"

"NO WAY! I AM NOT GETTING ON THAT THAT BUG?!"

"She wouldn't hurt you " Chizel got on

Leon and Dylan quietly sat on Wind. Marigo sighed and patted on Wind's side. Wind chirped and scattered into water vapor. Everyone was dropped on to the floor. Marigo opened the door and walked outside. Everyone looked at each other and followed her out. Marigo was looking up at the cloudy sky. Suddenly all the clouds disappeared into nothingness and only a bright clear sky was left. Wind reappear even longer and larger but puffy clouds covered her body. She looked like a string of cotton. She chirped as she flew around Marigo.

"Is that better? She doesn't look like a bug anymore." Marigo asked Jazzy.

Wind shrilled and flew right into Jazzy's face. Jazzy fell back onto her butt, as Wind wrapped her body around her.

"I-I guess i-i-it an improvement…" Jazzy twitched as Wind pecked her cheek, "It looks l-like a-a-a cl-c-cloud…"

"Aroo!" Wind picked her up and tossed Jazzy onto her back.

"I TAKE IT BACK! GET ME OFF!"

"Hey back off Wormy!" Acrilic snarled at Wind as she flew around him and Pastelli.

"Aww, she just wants to play…" Pastelli started baby talking to Wind, "Don't you? Don't you? You fluffy cute thing you!"

Wind chirped and Pastelli got on her. Acrilic glared at Wind and sat behind Pastelli. Finally after Wind playing around, Marigo grabbed her antennae again. Wind settled down and everyone got on. Mary and Maggie waved to everyone from the beach.

"Please take care now! Connie be good okay?" Mary shouted at them

"Okay!" Connie waved back to them

"Thank you so much Dylan! Don't worry, I won't give up. I hope you the best! " Maggie shouted.

-Author's Notes-

...

...

...

Just read the next chapter okay? (sorry I don't really know what to say... here)


	19. Story of Friendship

Wind flew up into the air and water vapor around her started to expand. They became surrounded by clouds. They made their way to the Inkopolis lab. After everyone got off of Wind, she flew up into the air and scattered into vapor once more. Jazzy and Chizel quietly left to go their houses. Dylan retreated back to his room. Leon started walking back to his house. He stopped at the supermarket to grab some snacks. The cashier saw him and happily greet him.

"Hey there Leon. Getting the same things?" She noticed him sulking a bit, "Oh… you are upset about something aren't you?"

"No…" Leon grabbed some blue raspberry soda bottles and handed it to her, "I'm just peachy."

"Come on, don't be like that… Wanna talk about it?"

"No…" he grabbed a bunch of bags of chips and they piled in her arms

"I think you do…" the pink inkling giggled, "You can't eat all of this by yourself."

"Leave me alone… Ruby… "

"I bet you don't even have enough for all of this, do you?"

Leon stopped and his ears lowered. She just laughed at him. She just patted him on his head.

"I got it, but you'll have to tell me what's wrong okay?"

"...Fine..." Leon just sulked

They went to a nearby park, and sat down on the ground. Leon just started angrily stuffing his face. Ruby just took a couple of chips at a time. They didn't say a word, until finally Leon spoke out.

"... Ruby… what would you do if we couldn't be friends?" Leon asked

"What? What type of question is that?" Ruby took her glasses and clean them

"I'm just saying…"

"Well, would you have a reason that we couldn't?"

"I… I- What if I was an Octoling?"

"Well are you still going to be the same Leon? Cause, then I guess, it wouldn't matter to me. We would still be friends even if you were two tentacles short."

"But-"

"Listen, there isn't really a good reason for friends to not be friends. There will be days where friends will fight. It's only natural, but even with all the fighting, true friends come back to each other. I remember when we first met. There I was playing with my squid dolly, and you accidentally ran into me. I dropped my dolly into a river and it got swept away. I was so mad."

"Hey! I said I was sorry…" Leon fidgeted with his thumbs

"You wouldn't listen to a word I said, and told me it was my fault for getting in the way. I just left you alone. Finally we gone into kindergarten. I was so upset when I found out you were in my class."

"Everyone, didn't like me because I kept arguing with them. The other squids started picking on you."

"At first, I believe it was karma and that you totally deserved it."

"Hey… that's cruel Ruby..."

"But after awhile I saw how lonely you were… So I started following you. Everyone started teasing me."

"Oh yeah… I called you a squalker too, just to make you mad."

"I know. I still followed you around for a month I think. One day, I got sick and couldn't go to school. "

"I felt so alone… that day. I would look back hoping you would pop out of nowhere. The next day you still haven't come back, so I asked one of your friends where your house was."

"Actually it was more like begged…" Ruby laughed, "She told me you were bawling your eyes out"

"Sh-sh-she lied! I wasn't crying!" Leon flashed pink

"Sure, sure if you say so Leon. Anyways"

"Right, I went to your house and I brought you some…some..."

"Cookies"

"Cookies, I was just about to say that!"

Ruby rolled her eyes, but smiled

"I brought you some cookies, and stayed at your house for a while."

"Yeah, we wouldn't talk to each other, until you finally apologized. At first I was like 'what?' and then I started eating the cookies you gave me. You still ate all of them in the end, and I only ate two."

"...sorry" he smiled sheepishly

"It's cool. We're hatchlings what can I say? Anyways, we started talking at school, and playing together. Those were years ago, that's why even if you were an Octoling, if we couldn't be friends you better have a GOOD reason for it."

"So we are friends because of the time we spent together?"

"No silly, it doesn't matter how long or short the time we spent was. It was how we bonded in that amount of time. It was those moments in that time, that's what made it special. So time me, did the short moments you spent with your friend mean anything to you?"

Leon sat there for a minute, until he finally understood. He stood up and started to bolt off. He stopped and looked back at Ruby.

"I realised I have to do something!" Leon shouted at her, "I got to go! Sorry Ruby! Catch you later!"

Ruby sighed and waved back to him. He ran off towards the Lab. She looked around at the trash and started gathering them.

"Still hasn't changed a bit" Ruby smiled to herself.

Leon ran back to the lab, and he sat in front of Dylan's door.

" _Even if we only met for a short while, we are still friends! I don't care if you say we can't be friends. Being human isn't a good enough reason!"_

He quietly waited in front of Dylan's door for so long he fell asleep.

-Jazzy and Chizel's Side -

Jazzy and Chizel were walking to their respective shops. Jazzy stopped Chizel for a bit.

"Hey, let's hang out for a bit. I need relieve some stress" Jazzy adjusted her hat,

"What are you going to go on your stress crafting again?" Chizel snickered,

"...Whatever! Just come on!"

She dragged off him off to the fabric store. He watched her angrily purchase tons of fabrics, yarn, and many other things. The shopkeeper just looked at Chizel confused. He shrugged.

She made Chizel carry everything to her Cafe, Rhythm & Blues. Her mother and father walked over to greet them. Her mother stopped as soon as she saw the bags full of stuff. Chizel nodded. She smiled and continued serving their guest. Her father returned to the kitchen. Jazzy stormed up stair and opened her room. Chizel put all her stuff down and sat on the floor. Jazzy took out the fabric and started cutting into it.

"You always do this when you're mad…" Chizel pulled out his book, and started reading, "Did you wanna talk about it?"

"I just I don't understand… Are we not good enough for him?!" She got on the sewing machine and started it up, "It makes me so angry when someone just doesn't appreciated what we did for them."

"Come on Jazz, he just lost his best friends…" Chizel turned the page, "Shouldn't you cut him some slack?"

"I find it… difficult to do so." She started knitting a scarf at a quick rate, "He keeps it up and he won't have any friends"

"Come on now… Don't you remember when we first met Char?"

"That was different… "

"Was it? I remember our teacher just assigned us a science project and paired us up with Char and Leon. We were all researching about how to tell different minerals apart. You didn't like how unfashionable they were and gave them a hard time."

Jazzy stopped and threw the finished scarf at him. Chizel rolled his eyes and tossed it back at her.

"Char accidently tripped and spilled the hydrochloric acid on you." Chizel continued, "It burned off most of your school uniform…"

He stopped and hide his face behind his book. She turned red and threw the yarn balls at him.

"CHIZEL! YOU WERE LOOKING?! HOW COULD YOU?!" She started throwing more things.

"I WAS TOLD! I DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING! I SWEAR!"

Chizel turned into his squid form and hid under her bed. It took a while before she finally calmed down. She sat back down, still flustered as she began sewing on a zipper. Chizel peeked out, and slowly came out to grab his book.

"Who told ya?" She seemed slightly annoyed

"Your mom told my mom… that one time."

"Figures…"

"That's beside the point… You hated Char after that. She would try her best to make it up to you and yet you would still hate her."

"I did… Yeah, aight I did. I couldn't forgive her. I know it was something stupid, and I know I was being a snobby brat. But… after that one day… I just couldn't hate her anymore. She tried to apologize to me again that day. I was just so annoyed and irritated, I crossed the street without looking. The car came out of nowhere, and Char pushed me out of the way."

"Oh, right I heard about that in class. She was in the hospital, for a while. At least she was not too hurt."

"You don't understand! I was such a jerk. I did horrible things to her. An-and she saved my life, and could have died. It made me realize, how much of a snob I was."

"At least you started visiting her everyday at the hospital. You kept dragging me along too. Your stress crafting lasted for weeks that time."

"I was so guilty and upset at myself… How could I help it?"

"You must have made a shop full of clothes… Just what did you do with all of them?"

"Want 'em? They should be in the other closet. I believe I made a couple of guy clothings. Well, quite a bit actually..."

"No, I have enough clothes," Chizel smiled, "At least you are a bit happier now…"

"Well, talking really helps… Annnddd… Done."

Jazzy held up the finished outfit. It was a bright orange T-shirt, a striped white and cream knitted scarf, some blue jeans and some knitted socks. Chizel stood up and looked it.

"Wow, nice…" Chizel picked up the shirt

"Here, you take it, maybe give it to Leon or something" she waved it off

"It may look nice on Dylan…"

"Huh?! No way! I won't give my clothes to people who aren't my friends!"

"Jazz, come on… He probably didn't mean what he said… AND you wouldn't want him to walk around in the patient's gown, NAKED would you?"

Jazzy became quiet and flashed bright red. She threw the clothes at his face and kicked him out of her room. He smiled and picked up all the clothes and walked back to his mother's bookstore. He helped clean and closed the store. He nicely folded and put the clothes into a box, and got ready for bed.

-Author's Notes-

So yeah I wrote the previous chapter before I read the comments. I have to really thank you guest, whoever you maybe. Your criticism helps me know what I need to improve on. So I tried to get a moment so readers can get to know the characters. Of course, how effective that is... I haven't a clue. As for romance... umm I haven't a clue what I am doing. I'll be honest here, I am a dunce when it comes to romantic stuff. (Forever alone, probably). That stuff aside, thank you for helping me improve. I hope you like these chapters.

Please tell me what you think and what I can improve on! Thanks for reading!


	20. Struggle at the Beach

Meanwhile at Char's apartment. Char locked up the house and walked to the beach. She took a breath of the fresh clear salty air. She sat down in the sand as she buried her feet in the still warm sand. She hugged her knees, and looked up at the stars. Everything was nice and quiet. It was a bit chilly, but the sand kept her nice and warm. A voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Hey… there… are you lost?…" a figure stood behind Char

Char turned around to see a grin with pointy teeth, stretching from ear to ear. Their sleeve seemed to drag against the floor. Char stood up and backed away from him.

"Leaving so soon? But you have just became my newest toy, Agent 3…" The figure tilted his head until snapped it to the side, "I just wanna play… Wait, I know! You wanna play tag right?!"

He revealed sharpened claws in place of his fingers, as he dashed at Char. Char quickly dodged him and took out her Hero shot. She fired at him and he just dodged them, swiping at her. Char quickly dove into her ink and swam behind him. She shot at his back. He just grinned even wider.

"Hehehe… that hurts… hehehe...HEEHEHEHEH HAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHA!" his blue rings on his tentacles glowed "I LOVE IT!"

Char moved away from him as he dashed at her. He disappeared and reappeared in front of Char. He hit her with the back of his claw. She tumbled into the sand, and he pinned down.

"Heheh… You're pretty cute…" He cackled, " I like cute things…"

Char growled and kicked him in the groin. He crumbled as she ran to grab her Hero Shot. His grin widened again and licked his teeth.

"OOO a feisty one?! That means you'll last so much longer. COME ON AGENT 3, LET'S PLAY!"

Char fired her ink at him. He swiped it away and lunged at her. Char rolled to the side and shot at him again. He took the chance and smacked her hero shot away. She kicked him away from her. He laughed hysterically and chased after her. He caught up and slashed her side. Char gritted her fangs, as he kicked her down and pinned her down again. He dug his claws into the sand near Char's face, and made a small cut on her cheek. He licked her cut and his stained claw.

"Mmm, tasty… Don't worry… I can't eat you just yet… The king says I get to play with you until you breathe your last breath… Oh wait! That wouldn't be any fun! I should cook you… Alive! After we play! HOW'S THAT SOUND?!"

"Wh-why are you doing this?!" Char struggled under him

"Well his majesty just want his reign to be perfect… Don't get me wrong, squiddy. Normally, I don't give a sucker about what that idiot has to say… But when he said I get to kill you… I couldn't resist! I GET TO KILL THE AGENT THAT TOOK AWAY EVERYTHING FROM ME! Hahaha… Maybe it was just fate… You. WILL. PAY. FOR TAKING HER FROM ME! I'LL MAKE SURE YOU DIE SUFFERING, A LONG AND PAINFUL DEATH."

Char tried to move, but her body wouldn't respond. He looked at her and laughed.

"Aww, little squiddy can't move? Didn't you know that Blue Ring Octolings have paralyzing spit?"

Char was about to scream, but she couldn't, her body wouldn't respond. He threw her into the legs of the dock. The Octoling grabbed her by her tentacles, and pulled her near the ocean.

"I always wondered how long a squid would last without any air… LET'S FIND OUT!" he plunged her face into the shallow water. Her body twitched and pulsed as it tried to raise her head. It wasn't long before he pulled her out. She coughed up the sea water, and gasped for air.

"I just remember that would kill you… OPPSIES MY BAD!" He laughed, "There is just too much fun to be had! Come Agent, let's go home! WAIT! I bet you have people you care about… Maybe it will be fun to make you watch me torture and kill them… I could use you as BAIT… heheheh…. HAHHAHHAAH"

Char regained some movement and bit his arm as hard as she could. He yelled and released her. She head-butted him and punched his face. She fought back and pushed him towards the sea. She kicked him into the water and rushed to grab her Hero shot. She pointed it at him, as he splatted. She stood there for a bit, before she collapsed on the beach, with the waves touching her body. It was almost dawn when Inklings started to head down to the beach. They freaked out when they saw Char, and an ambulance was called. They brought her to the hospital.

Callie and Marie were broadcasting Inkopolis News.

"Hold on to your tentacles..." Callie happily beamed

"It's Inkopolis news time!" Marie joined in

"This just in-" Callie stopped and her smile was wiped from her face

"Callie?" Marie looked at the teleprompter, and covered her mouth

"Ch-Ch-Chartreuse Finagen was found unconscious on the beach. She seems to have been attacked and almost drowned?!"

"Um… We gotta go!" Marie pulled Callie out of the studio.

Marigo was sitting inside Dylan's room, watching him poke at his food with a fork. Connie, Marigo, and Dylan were watching TV together until the Inkopolis News came on. Dylan watched in disbelief as Char's picture appeared on TV and the claw marks and the beach had lime green stains on it and a puddle of it near the docks.. It wasn't long before Marigo's phone started ringing.

"Marigo, here…. Is she okay?... Yes, I'll be there in a minute." She hung up her phone and started walking out the door, "Sorry Dylan, I have to go…"

He only stared quietly at the screen. When she rushed out the door, she woke up Leon. He looked at the TV and quickly rushed after Marigo.

"This… is all my fault… isn't it?" Dylan muttered

"She was attacked by one of the tyrant's men" Connie muttered, "He wants to get rid of any threat to his reign."

"I need to see her!"

"Huh? You can't go out like that Squids will all freak!"

"I don't care! I NEED TO SEE HER!"

Connie stopped me for a bit and handed over a ring.

"Here put this on. It will make you look like them"

Dylan slipped it on and he became a dark blue inkling. He quickly rushed out the door. Connie slipped on her bracelet and followed him as a magenta hatchling.

"Wait do you even know where you're going?" Connie asked

"No…" he stopped for a bit,

"Finally…" She climbed on to his shoulders, "Okay go outside and make left"

"Okay!"

Connie kept telling him directions, until they reached a huge hospital. Dylan ran inside and went up to the reception squid.

"Where's Char?" he asked,

"Oh, we aren't allowed to let any more people in…" The squid replied

"PLEASE YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!"

"I'm sorry sir, rules are rules..."

"Dylan, it's okay I got this" Connie whispered, "But miss lady… Char's my bestest friend and she took care of me since my dad left me! Are you saying you won't let me see her?! WHAT IF SHE DYING?!"

Connie started wailing and everyone glared at the reception squid. They all started muttering among themselves

"Ugh, how heartless…" someone muttered

"Shameful making a little hatchling cry like that…" another person spat.

"Geez… she just wants her sister. Come on lady… Have a heart!" Someone else scoffed

The squid looked totally embarrassed and shameful. She sighed and signed some papers.

"... Fine… Here. Just be good okay?" She handed her a lollipop and some visitor stickers, "Let's not talk about this to anyone else… Room 522"

"Okay thanks bye!" Connie smiled, "We need to take the elevator up to the 5th floor and Room 22 should be where she is"

"Uhhh, I can't exactly read…" Dylan scratched his head

"Oh boy… Well, whatever follow me!" Connie licked the lollipop and grabbed his hand.

She pulled him into an elevator and pushed one of the buttons. They waited patiently as awful elevator music played. Finally the doors open and Connie pulled Dylan down the hall. She finally reached a door crowded with squids trying to get a picture of Callie and Marie.

"BYE! CALLIE!" Connie looked one way and waved to nobody

They all turned their heads and ran after nothing.

"Hurry, now's our chance!" Connie jump back onto his back.

"It's locked."

"One second," Connie pulled out her phone and started doing something, "Done"

The door just squeaked open. Marigo and everyone just stared at him and Connie. Leon stepped forward.

"Who are you?" Leon asked, but Dylan just ran past him, "Hey!"

He looked at Char who was just resting on the bed. She was just sleeping. Chizel grabbed Dylan's shoulder.

"Who are you?... Wait… Dylan?!" Chizel released him

"Bingo! We have a winner!" Connie beamed as she licked her lollipop

"Connie?"

"Don't you just love technology?"

"Nevermind that! Is she okay?" Dylan asked as he touched her cheek

"She's has cuts and bruises, but she's fine."

"Hmm…" Connie climbed onto the bed and underneath the blanket, "Her muscles still seem a bit stiff… My guess is a blue ringed Octoling attacked her."

"Ge-get out of there!" Jazzy pulled her out

"A blue ringed octoling?" Marie asked, "what do you about it?"

"Well I know they are rare. One was the heir to the throne, until they threw her into the sea. This one… is kinda like … mister umbrella monster back at the lab. He was an experimental ex-soldier. He seemed to have lost himself and his sanity. Before the tyrant came along, he lived in the streets. When the tyrant recruited him, he seemed already lost into his madness. He would savagely murder anyone, the tyrant released him on."

"So, is he dead now?" Marigo asked,

"I doubt it, he may have just got splatted and was returned to his ship. I am sure he will return. If I remember correctly, he won't stop until his 'prey' is dead."

Char's eyelids moved as she shifted positions. The doctor came in and told everyone to leave.

"Visiting hours are over now. Please let Char rest and don't forget your stuff." the doctor opened the door so everyone could leave.

Everyone reluctantly got out of the room, and Char opened her eyes to make sure that everyone left the room. She sat up and got out of bed. The blue ringed Octoling's words echoed in her head. She changed into her clothes, and her hero shot. She opened her phone and looked at the picture of everyone. She put the phone on the bed, and opened the window. She carefully made her way to the ground. She ran off into the darkness.

Char made her way to past the residential area. She ran as far as she could from Inkopolis. She couldn't stay here. If she stayed everyone she cared about could become prey to the Blue Ring Octoling. She wiped her tears as she tried to muster on believing it was for the best.

-Author's Note-

Well, I finished the next, next, chapter after this one... BUT it is pretty dark... and well I kinda need to know if I need to bump up the rating T to M or not. So ummm if does just PM or put it in the reviews. If you just tell me I need to change it I will change it. Of course I could also just be overreacting... I don't know I just want to play it safe.

So what do you think? Should I change anything? Thanks for reading!


	21. Missing in Action

-Dylan's POV-

I woke up the next morning and quickly made my way to the hospital. I wanted to see Char and apologize for everything. Strangely, the hospital was filled with Inklings. I quickly slipped past the reception squid and got on the elevator. I got onto the 5th floor and went to Char's room. When I opened the door, everyone looked at me.

"Dylan! Please tell me you've seen Char!" Marigo stood up,

"No, sh-she's not here?" I stammered

"I searched everywhere…" Leon looked exhausted, "She just left her phone here. The camera caught her leaving through the window… I ran everywhere in town looking for her."

"Why would she go away without saying anything?" Callie asked

"It's no good, she isn't wearing the headset on her agent outfit…" Marie shook her head, "Or at least she isn't respon-"

"Don't you dare say that! She can't! She can't be…" Jazzy began frantically knitting a sweater as tears formed in her eyes

"You guys can't locate her?" Chizel asked, "There isn't a tracking device or something Char has on her?"

"No if she isn't wearing the outfit we can't track her" Callie answered.

I stood there quietly. I bolted out the door and out of the hospital.

" _This is all my fault… I shouldn't have said those things. I-I-"_ I gritted my teeth

I ran all over town, searching for her. I asked everyone and anyone if they had seen Char. I would call out her name without caring about people staring at me. Leon finally caught up to me and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Dylan, I *pant* tried that already…" Leon replied, "Look there must be something about that blue octoling thing"

"So we need to talk to the Octoling back at Inkopolis Lab?"

"Yeah, it's a good start. Well, I least I think so"

"Let's go! There's no time to lose"

We made our way, to Marigo's lab. We went into Chomp and Connie's room. Connie was sleeping snuggled up against her sister. Chomp still hasn't woken up yet. I gently poked Connie's tiny tentacle. She opened her eyes and sat up.

"Oh hello Dylan." she replied yawning, "what's up?"

"Connie tell us everything you know about the blue ringed Octoling" Leon responsed

"Wait… What?"

"Char's gone and we need to know why she's gone…"

Connie began quiet and lowered her head.

"That could mean one of two things. Either the worst has come for her or she ran off to prevent you all from becoming his targets."

"Targets?" I asked

"Yes, he targets other people to bring his prey into his trap. From what I heard, he tortures those people in front of his prey. Until he finally finishes off the people and his prey"

"Are you saying he would have came after us?"

"Yes," Connie confided, "She may try to fight him somewhere far away from you guys. So if she wins she can come back without worrying about your safety. She may get killed if she fights, depending on his mood."

"There must be something we can do… Char can't die! I won't let her!" I stated

"I honestly haven't got a clue"

"I could… help you I guess..." Chomp slowly sat up

"YOU!" Leon jumped and stood in front of Dylan

"It doesn't mean… I feel any different towards to you squids… but you did take care of my sister. I can at least return the favor..."

"CHOMPIE!" Connie hugged her sister

"Connie, I am so sorry… I didn't mean to scare you…" Chomp hugged her back

Connie was crying in her arms. Chomp slowly got up, but tripped over her feet. Leon caught her. She regained her footing and pushed Leon aside.

"Hey!" Leon whined

"Don't push it…" She put her hoodie back on

"I should be telling you the same thing!"

She completely ignored him and turned to me.

"You are… the ancient creature right? It's funny how we almost look alike. I should apologize for attacking you."

"Umm, I don't really know what to say…" I scratched my cheek, "But are you saying you can find Char?"

"I could find the general area she's hiding, but if she is bleeding that will be a lot easier."

"Bl-bl-bleeding?!" Leon stammered

"You are saying Erazor is after her?"

"Erazor?"

"He is a blue ringed Octoling, ex-soldier. He is insane and incredibly strong. Apparently he hates Agent 3 more than I do."

"Right, I believe it was because his fiancé died after Octavio failed." Connie replied, " I am pretty sure it has nothing to do with Agent 3, oh I mean Char."

"It doesn't?"

"No, Mimi was killed by one of the tyrant's men. She was just covered with green ink to frame Char. I would visit him, but he got scarier and scarier every time I did. "

"That's pretty ironic… He's now working for his lover's murderer…"

"Chompie! That isn't very nice! He's just lost and confused!"

"Not my problem. He tried to attack me, so he's dead to me"

"Chompie…"

"I'll call everyone over, so I guess we better get ready for anything" Leon took out his phone.

Third POV

Somewhere very far away, Char made her away to a canyon. She took a moment to catch her breath. She sat down and rested her back against the rock. A sudden breeze ran past her. A cut appeared on her cheek and the wall behind her was cut into 3 slabs.

"I FOUND YOU!" Erazor grabbed Char's neck, "You play such a great game of tag. Well, time to play again."

He threw her against the canyon wall. He laughed as she stood back up. She started shooting at him. He dodged and slashed at her. Char ducked and swam away. He laughed and slashed at her ink trails. She appeared and fired at his back. He growled and smiled widely at her. He tried to grab her. She rolled to the side and shot at him again. He hissed at her and tried to grab her again. He slashed at Char covering her in blue ink. Char hissed and her movements were slowed. She couldn't move or react as fast as she did before. He slammed her into the floor. He dug his claws into her arm. Her screams echoed in the canyon. He laughed as she tried to struggle away from him.

"Ahh, I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO HEAR YOU SCREAM...Hahah… It's so nice… Again..." He moved his claws to open the wound even more.

Char cried out even more. She was about to lose consciousness.

"Please… you have me… Don't g-go after my friends… Don't hurt them…Please..." her tears ran down her face

"Awww… Are you crying, Agent?" He held her by the tentacles, "Are you giving yourself up, just so you can save your friends from a horrible demise? Aren't you heroic? I'll respect that… BUT still… I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU A TRAGIC HERO! HAHHAHAHHA!"

He started dragging Char away. She felt herself slipping. She feel him toss her body into some sort of cage. She just laid there and fainted.

Erazor closed the door to the cage.

"Well, it seems you were right… boy…" He licked his claw stained with green ink, "I guess… I'll spare you…"

Quil was quivering in the corner. Erazor stabbed his claws into the wall right next to his head.

"I have another job for you… boy…" he purred, "That royal pain's ordersss… Here."

He tossed a video camera to Quil. He lifted up Char's head.

"He said to give the squids a reason to stay away…" He dropped her back onto the cage floor, "What better way to kill two birds with one stone? I get to make sure she pays for Mimi's death AND you get to broadcast it live to Inkopolis... For your little squid friends to see… NOW don't give me a reason to make you an example too. GOT IT?'"

Quil shakily nodded as he tightly grasp the camera. Erazor started up the ship and Quil cowered in his corner again.

-Author's Notes-

I guess I maybe over thought about the rating so. I will keep it rated T, but if I do writing something that can be seen as rated M material just PM about it okay? I don't want any trouble. Well what do you think so far? Should I fix anything? Thanks for reading!


	22. Atonement

-Dylan POV-

We got into a car and dove behind Chomp. Chomp's fin stuck out from under ground as she swam out in front of us. I was pretty amazed how she could swim in anything she wanted and left a magenta ink trail behind her fin. We gave her a headset so she could communicate with us.

"I smell something, but I don't think you'll like it" Chomp muttered, "Did you want me to swim ahead to scout the area?"

"Okay, go ahead," Callie replied,

"I have a bad feeling about this" Marie looked away.

"Yeah, you guys aren't going to like this very much" Chomp muttered

The car pulled over to a stop at the canyons. The canyon was in ruins. Chomp touched the green ink stain on the floor.

"It's pretty fresh" she rubbed her fingers, "Seem we just missed her… or she may have-"

"Don't you dare say she's dead!" Jazzy growled

Chomp just put her hands into her pocket. I opened the door and walked outside. Connie climbed on my shoulders. I looked around and walked up to Char's shell hair clip on the floor near the floor.

"That's hers isn't it?"Connie asked

"Yeah, she was wearing it before she left" I held it tightly in my hand

"Hey, there are burn marks here…" Chomp touched floor, "That means a they used a ship to leave. She was taken away to Octopia and probably to that tyrant..."

"No…" I gritted my teeth and fell to my knees

"We should head back… There isn't much we can do now…"

"There must be something we can do! I won't let Char die because of me!"

"Human, you will get murdered if you try to go there without a plan"

"But!"

"You need a plan, Human… Or you'll both die in vain."

I hung my head in defeat. Connie patted the top of my head. Chomp held out her hand and I took it. She pulled me up. We all got back into the car and drove back to Inkopolis. We got back to the lab. Callie and Marie went back to their studio to do the Inkopolis News. We switched on the TV and started watching. Chomp climbed back into bed and rested.

Callie and Marie did their usual intro, but it suddenly changed to an dark rust colored Octopus with a crown. Chomp glared at the screen. Connie held on to her sister tightly.

"Hello Inklings of Inkopolis… I am the new king of the Octarians, Luscas." He laughed, "I figured you may try to fight against me. So I figured I'll show you what I'll do to you if you fight against me"

He stepped aside and Char was strapped down to a chair. She looked exhausted and had cuts and wounds all over her body. Green ink was dripping from Erazer's hands. He happily licked his claws.

"Say 'HI' to the camera, Agent 3!" He grabbed her head and force her to look at the camera, "We are going to have a really fun time!"

The chair was lifted into the air and lowered into a glass box filled with some sort of liquid. She was slowly lowered into the liquid. When her leg made contact with the liquid, she began screaming. She began struggling as more of her body came in contact with the liquid. They dropped her into the tank. She struggled and writhe around in pain. She slowly stopped moving and lost consciousness. They pulled her out and she coughed out some of liquid. Erazor slashed the straps and kicked Char onto the floor. Char slowly got on her hands and knees. Erazor pulled her up by her tentacles.

"Time for you to say bye-bye, Agent 3" he raised his claws into the air

"NOO!" I cried out

A Octoling wearing a cloak stopped Erazor's claws.

"I don't think so…" she pushed him back.

"..You dare oppose me?!" Luscas growled, "You will be executed!"

"Erazor… Why are you helping the man truly behind Mimi's murder?"

"Mi-Mimi's murder? That brat did it!" he snarled at Char

"She died to save your life from Luscas, not from Agent 3!"

"LIES! SHE'S A LIAR!" Luscas bellowed, "Agent 3 murdered her! You saw the ink all over your precious Mimi!"

"No inkling has EVER made it into Octopia! That would be a breach of the treaty!" The Octoling shouted, "Of course, only every Octarian who wasn't banished knows that!"

"Erazor get her!" Luscas barked at him

Erazor only turned to face him.

"I don't take orders from you… TALK DID YOU KILL MIMI?!" His rings started brightly glowing.

"No! Of course I didn't!" Luscas backed up

"YOU ARE LYING… aren't you?"

"Back off Erazor…" another Octoling stepped between him and Luscas, "Come any closer and you will die too…"

"Briar… move it you aren't part of this!"

"I won't repeat myself again, Erazor…"

"I said it once and I'll say it again… GET IN MY WAY AND I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Very well…" He threw knives at Erazor

The cloaked Octoling blocked the attack. The gust from the attack blew back her hood. There was a white Octoling with blue rings on her long tentacles.

"A-Aria…" Erazor stepped back.

"Th- th- the princess?!" Luscas stammered, "NO, you were thrown into the sea!"

"Yes, I was… I can't thank you enough for it…" Aria's rings started glowing and a rain storm started inside the room

"R-rain?!" Briar stepped back from Aria, "How is this possible?!"

"When you tossed me into the sea, I absorbed some of the water and instead of splatting I swam over to a rock above water. I started experimenting and working with water. I can't use ink anymore, but I do have power over water"

Char started writhing around in pain as the water touched her. Erazor snarled and ran for cover. Another hooded Octoling covered Char's body and lifted her up. The camera started shorting out and the broadcast ended.

"CHAR!" I ran and put my hands on the screen.

"Sh-sh-she's alive? How? That's not possible!" Chomp muttered

"Who was that?" Marigo asked

"That was the true heir to the throne… Ariana Octavio..." Connie answered,

"Nevermind that!" I shooked the TV, " What are they going to do to Char?!"

"I haven't a clue… Char did defeat her father, but she never killed him. So I don't know if she'll harm Char, but I doubt it."

"Can you take us there? Is there any way to contact Aria?"

"Well… I guess Wind could take us there"

"That or Chompie can call her majesty…" Connie smiled mischievously

"Oh, right… She did give it to me for some reason…" Chomp pulled out her phone, "More like forced it into my phone… "

"Why don't you call her, Chompie?"

"No."

"Maybe she came back to see you Chompie!"

"WHAT?!" Chomp turned bright red, "Th-that's not funny!"

"Maybe she came back to ask you to marry her! She always visited Mommy's store just to see you after all!"

"N-no! She just liked our… tea!" Chomp was practically steaming red now, "She's stupid!"

"But if you two get married maybe we can have little baby hatchlings running around!"

"CONNIE! THAT ISN'T HOW IT WORKS!" Chomp was now even redder.

"Heheh…"

Chomp hid her face into a pillow. Marigo ran out for a bit, but came back with a whistle. She blow into it hard, but no sound came out of it. A huge gust of wind blew the window open. Wind chirped as she pecked Marigo's nose. Jazzy jumped and hid behind Chizel. Wind cooed as Marigo grabbed hold of her antennae.

"All right get on" Marigo got on Wind.

"I-i-it's f-f-for Ch-char" Jazzy whimpered as she shakily sat on Wind

I got on Wind. Connie climbed on Wind and Chomp followed. Everyone else got on and Wind flew high into the sky. We were flying very quickly as the puffy clouds passed us by. The clouds got darker and darker, until it randomly started raining. Wind did a sharp drop. Everyone besides Marigo and Chomp started screaming. Aria was splashing up water at Briar. Briar was defending the King. Wind flew up to prevent the rain from hitting us. Chomp and Connie went to back up Aria, by attacking in coming Octarian troops. Erazor tried to slash at the Octoling carrying Char.

"GIMME BACK MY PREY!" Erazor snarled as he caught her cloak

"BACK OFF!" I threw a rock at him.

He yipped and snarled at me. He chased after me. Leon splashed ink at Erazor. He hissed and broke his roller. Erazor hooked his claws into his ink tank and threw him against the wall. Chizel tossed burst bombs at Erazor. Erazor cut right through it and grabbed him by the face and slammed him against the floor. Jazzy tried to blast him, he grabbed her hand and forced her to drop her luna blaster. He bit into her shoulder and she loudly screamed.

"Erazor!" Marigo shouted at him

He growled as he glared at her. Marigo took off her ring and she changed back into a striped octoling. He instantly stopped and started backing up from her. She only glared at him

"I-I Y-you… d-died… I carried your limp body… This isn't real!" He screeched as he charged at her, "I'LL KILL YOU!"

She stopped his claws and changed into him. She took a fighting stance as he snarled and attacked her again. Her claws clashed with his creating sparks. While he was distracted, the Octoling holding Char was attacked by other Octolings. She did her best to dodge their attacks but dropped Char in the process. I ran over to her and shook her.

"Char! Char!" I pleaded as I took her hand, "Please wake up…"

"...Dy...lan… why… did you come… they'll… hurt… you…" Char's breathing became raspy, "Save… your...self… please"

"Char I was wrong! We ARE friends… I don't want you to die.. This was all my fault!"

"We're...friends?… I'm… so happy…to... hear you… say that… I'm... so... tired..." she

"Char! No… Wake up!"

Char looked up him, she rested her head against his chest. I gently picked her up. Char winced a when I moved. Erazor managed to throw his imposter off of him. He looked at me and growled. He started walking towards us. I started backing up. He sprinted towards me and raised his claws up. I covered Char's body and waited for him to hit me.

"GET OFF OF ME TWERP!" he snarled as Leon held on to his back

"I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU HURT MY FRIENDS ANYMORE " Leon pulled on Erazor's tentacles

"FINE I GUESS I'LL JUST KILL YOU FIRST" Erazor slammed his back into the wall.

Leon released him and Erazor stabbed his claws into Leon's stomach. Erazor threw Leon into another wall. Leon's body was in a small puddle of his blue ink. Erazor snarled and turned his attention back to me. Chizel tossed burst bombs at Erazor. Erazor roared and glared at Chizel.

"Dylan! I'll distract him run!" Chizel splashed his

"I'LL KILL YOU TOO!" Erazor charged at him

"Chizel No!" I shouted

"I'll protect you just go!" Chizel jumped over him.

Erazor grabbed his leg and threw him on the floor. Before Erazor could sink his claws into him Jazzy tackled him to the floor. Erazor gripped her tentacles and started crushing them. Jazzy cried out as he started choking her. Chizel jumped at him. Erazor hit him with the back of his claws and sent him into the wall. He hit his head, and passed out. I couldn't stand there and do nothing anymore. I gently laid Char down.

"HEY! LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!" I shouted at him

He turned towards me, snarled, and then lunged at me. Before he could slash at me I grabbed his claws. He tried to get his hands free, but failed. He tried to bite me. I headbutted into his head. He stumbled back and I punched him.

"Ow… that actually hurt" Erazor rubbed his cheek, "You aren't an Inkling or Octoling are you?"

I just glared at him. He laughed and stretched out his claws. He dashed at me again. I rolled and ran to grab a metal pole. He jumped at me and I whacked him with it. He went flying as more octolings started surrounding me. Chomp rammed into them and spiked them into Luscas. Aria looked exhausted, but happy to see Chomp.

"Akkie, what would I ever do without you?" Aria catching her breath

"Don't you EVEN start." Chomp growled, "I told you that name's off limits!"

"Well fair enough… we can catch up later. I am looking forward to it...Akkie."

Chomp splashed ink at her and swan off. Aria just smiled. She could probably sense Chomp's blushing under her shark armor.

"There are just too many of them" Luscas said under his breath, "Retreat for now!"

One of the Octoling tossed flash bombs and everyone got blinded for a while. When my eyes finally a figure stood before me.

"GOTCHA!" Erazor slashed his claws in the air and sent a wave of blue ink at me.

The ink knocked me down. He cut into my side and I yipped. His claws couldn't cut through my ribs.

"What? Why can't I? What the ink are you?" He snarled

He was about to cut into me again, but Char hit him away with the pipe. He snarled at her.

"I guess I was right about the bait…" He had a growl in his throat, "But who would have thought they would be as annoying as this… Oh well I only had one goal anyways… KILLING YOU!"

He jumped at her. Char tried to deflected his attack with the pipe, but he knocked it and her away.

"Char!" I shouted

She struggled to get up. Erazor stepped on her head and pushed it into the ground. She weakly struggled for a bit until she stopped moving. He flipped her on to her back. He lifted her up by her neck. He was about to bite into her neck. I struggled to make my way to her. Wind hissed at him and wrapped her body around him. He broke free and threw Wind to the side. Wind blew him away. He grabbed Char before he blown off. He bit into the back of her neck and stuck his claw into the ground. Char left out a whimper and he just dropped her body.

-Author's Notes-

Juggercelick, Sure if I decide he needs to die. I'll see what I can do if I should change it to rated M. Whether I do or not I hope you still like the story.

STR1K3, I'm not Australian, lol. I just do my research about different species. I can make a box jellyfish Octoling. Look for it later, okay? Thanks for both of your supports!

Well this chapter's a bit long, but what do you think? Is it too violent? Should I fix anything? Thanks for reading! Have a great summer!


	23. Not So Straight Forward

-Author's Note-

Hi there. I just wanted to put a **girlx girl warning** (it's just kissing...). I don't know, better safe than sorry? Oh, if this chapter is violent enough to be rated M, let me know. Please don't flag me or whatever they do here. Just tell me and I'll go change it. Well happy reading! (I hope).

* * *

"CHAR!" I cried out as I ran to her.

Erazor laughed until his lookalike slashed at him. She made him focused on her. I held up Char's body. She was turning pale and her tentacles were losing their color. Her breathing was short and raspy. Aria walked up to me.

"She's dying…" She looked down at me, "To be honest… I never thought I would be saving my father's worst enemy…"

"Please save her!" I cried into Char's ripped clothing

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Erazor snarled and was about to hack Aria into pieces.

Chomp leaped out of the ground and bite into his side. She took a good chunk of him. He pushed her away. Chomp jumped at him and ripped off his arm. He smiled so widely and started hysterically laughing. His arm, claws, and tentacles grew longer and thinner. He dashed at blinding speed at Aria. The striped Octoling shielded her and Erazor's claws stopped inches from her head. She glared at him with tears in her eyes.

"WH-WHY?! Why do you mock me with her?..." He snarled as tears formed, "I want to kill you… but you look… just like her…"

"That was your first mistake…" Chomp leaped up and bite into him.

She dove back down and slammed him into the ground. She swam back into the ground. Erazor was covered in his own blue ink as it poured out from his wounds. He slowly stood back up. Chomp jumped up and changed back into her humanoid form. The teeth from her hoodie grew and fired into his body. He fell onto his knees as he quietly laughed. His ink pooled around him.

"Hahaha… why?... Couldn't I protect you?" His laughs turned into sobbing, "Heh, I am a pathetic fiance… I couldn't … do anything..."

"Erazor…" The striped Octoling pulled out her ring and showed it to him

"...Mimi…"

She gently laid him on his side and knelt beside him.

"I never wanted this to happen… It wasn't ever supposed to be this way…" she sobbed

"Mimi… I love you…" He pulled her for a hug

"Your majesty… Please… I know he attacked us, but I beg of you! Please don't let him die… He needs to know the truth…"

"Mimi, do what you gotta do." Aria replied, "I trust you, but just make sure he doesn't turn me into sashimi…"

"Y-your majesty! I am forever in your debt!"

"Just 'Aria' will be fine… and don't sweat it…"

"I guess I can help if you hold his claws for me…" Connie replied

"He touches a sucker on her head." Chomp glared at Mimi, "You both will be sashimi in my lunchbox tomorrow."

Aria stood there for a bit, but then the rings on tentacles glowed. Water started entering Char's bite wound. Tears flowed from her eyes. After a while, Char seemed to become limp in my arms. I started shaking her, but she didn't respond.

"Char? Char..." I held her closer to my body and cried into her shirt

"Dylan… You're hurting me…" Char weakly muttered

I looked at her as she looked up at me. I happily hugged her. She nuzzled her cheek into my shoulder. I fell back and winced a bit. I touched my side and my hand was covered in my blood.

"You're hurt..." Char muttered,

"I'm on it!" Connie ran up to me, "Huh red ink? I never seen that before…"

"It's not ink… ever heard of blood?"

"Blood? Yeah, ours matches the color of our ink… I'm pretty sure Inklings are the same. Well, all bandaged up. Your turn Char!"

"Wait... what about…. the others?" Char muttered

"Well I gave them first aid, but they and you probably need a hospital." Connie started wrapping Char's neck, "I can only keep you alive for a while. Without proper medicines and equipment I can't stop you from getting infected or bleeding out."

"Hey how are you? I haven't seen you in a long time..." Aria looked at Chomp.

"Well I guess I could be better…" Chomp muttered as she put her weapons into her pocket.

Aria walked up to Chomp and kissed her cheek. Chomp jumped like 5 feet into the air and turned bright red.

"WHATTHEINK?!" Chomp was covering her face, "ARIA!"

Aria winked and smiled as Chomp turned into a Shark and dove into the ground. Chomp leaped up at her. Aria pinched the armor's snout and Chomp's armor changed back into her hoodie. Aria took that opportunity to catch her and kissed her on the lips. Chomp was stunned for a while as she changed into a deeper shade of red. She started freaking out and pulled away from Aria. Chomp wiped her mouth and became so flustered.

"You are so cute when you are like this" Aria smiled

She pulled out her Octoshots and started firing at Aria. Aria dodged them and Chomp growled and kept attacking her. Chomp threw her Octoshot at Aria and knocked her down. Chomp stood before Aria and pointed at her with the other Octoshot. Aria smirked and tripped her. Chomp fell right on top of her.

"Gotcha" Aria smirked as Chomp brightly glowed red

Aria wrapped her arms around Chomp. Chomp struggled to get out of her grasps. Chomp was so embarrassed that she turned a new shade of red.

"LET GO OF-" Chomp roared, but interrupted by another kiss.

She stopped for a bit as her mind seem to be comprehending what is happening. She finally started struggling even harder to get out of the kiss. Chomp soon ran out of air and she fainted.

"Akkie?" Aria asked as she gently sat up with Chomp, "Oops, she fainted…"

"So that mean you love Chompie?" Connie asked Aria

"Maybe… or I just like to tease her"

Aria stood up carrying holding Chomp bridal style. She began walking but then stumbled.

"Aria!" Mimi ran to her, "You need to get back into the water… At this rate you will dehydrate…"

"Heh, yeah I was hoping to hold Akkie longer, but I am getting tired" Aria smiled and handed Chomp over to Mimi.

"Aroo?" Wind touched her antennae on Aria

"Whoa, is that a dragon?" Aria touched Wind head.

Wind happily scattered and when into Aria's body. A small raincloud formed above Aria's head and began raining.

"Huh, that's really convenient… Thanks dragon thingy" Aria stood up again

"What?" Mimi put her hand into the cloud, "Are you doing this?"

"No… That dragon thing is… I think"

A loud ringtone of a video game song echoed in the room. Everyone looked at Leon who was knocked out. Aria took Chomp back in her arms Mimi walked over and pulled out his phone.

"Hello?" She changed her voice into Leon's.

"WHERE THE INK IS EVERYONE?!" Marigo yelled at everyone, "LEON I WAS CALLING YOU AND EVERYONE FOR HOURS!"

"Umm, I had to… wash my tentacles?"

"...You aren't Leon… WHO IS THIS?!"

"Bye!" She hung up and threw his phone into the sea, "Opps."

Aria just snickered at Mimi. Connie pulled on Aria's coat.

"Your highness? You should come with us to Inkopolis. It's so much safer there" Connie looked up at her

"Inkopolis huh? I guess I haven't got a place to go… So sure why not?"

"Yay! Does this mean you and Chomp can have hatchlings?" Connie's eyes lit up

"Sure as many as you want us to have…" Aria winked,

"Oh I know she will be a good mommy! I can't wait!"

"If I may my liege." the hooded Octoling bowed, "I'll remain in the shadows and report from here."

"Understood, be safe." Aria patted his shoulder

"Naturally"

The hooded Octoling faded into the shadows. Wind cooed and reformed beside Aria. Connie jumped on to her back. I helped put everyone on to Wind's back. Wind noticed a squid cowering in the corner and she picked him up. Quil began freaking out until he passed out. She carried him by his shirt all the way home. After a while we got back to the Lab to see the familiar Octoling scientists, with Cauldern and Garden.

"Char! Everyone!" Marigo picked up Char.

"Hi… Marigo…" Char meekly responded

"YOU!" She pointed at Mimi

"I am SO SORRY! I just thought I could save them" Mimi replied

"Mimi that was risky… I understand that you loved him, but he was on their side."

"You… are wrong…" Erazor muttered, "Mimi…"

Mimi just turned away. Despite the amount of pain he was in, he wrapped his arm around her and hugged her back tightly.

"I AM SO SORRY I AM TERRIBLE!" He desperately cried out, "I WASN'T THINKING! PLEASE I LOVE YOU! PLEASE FORGIVE ME…"

"Don't touch me." Mimi tried to get him off, but he tightly held on to her

"MIMI! PLEASE UNDERSTAND I THOUGHT I LOST YOU! I WAS, I was angry, I was in absolute despair and anguish. I was lost without you… But I see… I love you enough to let you go… I'll go jump into the ocean …

Mimi quickly turned around and slapped him. She was quietly sobbing.

"YOU ARE AN IDIOT!" She screamed at him, and hugged him, "I LOVED YOU TOO BUT WHY DID YOU KILL ALL THOSE PEOPLE?! YOU BECAME A MONSTER! YOU EVEN TORTURED AN INNOCENT SQUID! I WAS SO AFRAID THAT I LOST YOU!"

"Mimi… I made… you cry. I am truly a horrible person…But I never put a claw on any of those Octarians… Briar told the troops to attack everyone. My only goal was to kill agent 3… I didn't think I would be lied to..."

Mimi cried into his clothes. He looked at Char and she flinched. Aria collapsed onto the floor.

"Your highness!" Maggie help her up

"I don't feel too great," Aria muttered

"She need water! " Mimi looked around for some water.

"Here I got it!" Mary pulled Aria to a room and threw her into a tank full of water.

Marigo's eyes nearly popped out of her heads.

"YOU JUST-" Marigo covered her mouth

"She's fine…"

Aria changed into a large white Octopus with blue ring markings. She sank to the bottom and just curled her tentacles up. She looked a bit sleepy.

"It's a bit cold…" Aria gurgled as bubbles come from under her

"She's not splatting" Marigo looked at Aria, "How is this possible?"

"Well I am 90 percent water… instead of ink… My mother was the first octarian experiment. I guess I am lucky..."

Aria snuggled into her tentacles and fell asleep.

"What's wrong, Marigo" I asked

"Too much water isn't really good for Inklings or Octarians, so this is just unbelieveable."

"So this is water?" I climbed up on top,

"Dylan! Be careful!"

"Whoa!"

I fell in and accidentally woke up Aria. She looked up at me. She swam up, and helped me to the surface. Everyone was having a panic attack outside. Aria brought me to the edge so I can hold onto to it.

"Hmm well this is interesting… You didn't splat…" Aria climbed onto my head, "Could it be that you aren't an Octoling… or an Inkling?"

"DYLAN! HOW ARE YOU ALIVE!? YOU NEARLY GAVE US A HEART ATTACK" Marigo pulled me out.

"Huh? " I looked at her, "What are you talking about?"

"We thought you would have drowned or popped or something!"

"Hmmm I don't know what he is but he sure is warm…" Aria curled up her tentacles and began softly snoring on my head.

"I apologize her majesty gets this way when she's tired," Mimi scratched her cheek, "She will just fall asleep when she's exhausted, and it doesn't matter where..."

"You guys seemed to have forgotten that we have dying squids" Connie was pulling on Jazzy's clothes

"Oh!" Marigo ran over and help Connie out with Jazzy, " What happened to them? You know what who cares. Leon..."

Marigo pulled all of them onto stretchers. Leon's heart rate started to drop as his breathing became more labored.

"His body is going into shock" Marigo bit her thumb, "I may need to get him to the hospital… but in his condition he may just die…."

"No..." I looked over at him.

"Leon and Char are the most serious conditions"

"They can't die!"

"I don't know what I can do for him…" Connie muttered, "There just aren't the right medical equipments here for something so serious"

"There must be something we can do!"

"How long can you keep him alive, Connie?" Marigo asked, "I'll get the paramedics"

"I guess for a while… but no guarantees"

We all waited anxiously as Connie did her best to keep Leon going. Soon sirens were heard and all the Octolings and Dylan put on their Inkling disguises. The paramedics came in and covered his mouth and nose with an oxygen mask. They connected him to an IV and a heart monitor. The monitor had three colored lines on it two of which had become flat lines.

"Two hearts are down… We need to get going before the main heart stresses out too much" one of the medics muttered.

They quickly got him into the ambulance and sped away, while another one took Char. I wanted to go with them, but Marigo stopped me.

"Dylan you are also hurt, so I can't let you go-"

"He's worried about his friends… Have a heart…" Aria muttered

"I-I-" Marigo sighed, "Very well, let's go"

"Heh, you should get out of those wet clothes first…"

Aria patted me on the head and jumped back into her tank of water. Connie came back with some clothes.

"Hey I was searching through your friend's bags and found clothes…" Connie handed them to me, "there's a note on it. Here, let me read it for you. 'Dear Dylan, I understand how you must feel. Here, Jazzy made some clothes and since you don't have any, I thought these would look nice on you. Even if we can't be friends, if you ever need anything just let us know. Just as equals. Chizel Marvbel"

"Chizel…" I held the clothes tightly to my chest and quickly put the clothes on.

"Hey, they look nice on you," Chizel smiled, "Take care now"

"Chizel? Are you okay?"

"Heh, are you worried about me? I am a bit ruffled up, but I'll be fine."

"Let's go Dylan!" Marigo called out to me

"We can talk later okay?" Chizel rested his head against the wall

I nodded and made my way to Marigo's van. We made our way to the hospital. Marigo had special access so they didn't question us at all. We made it into the ER. We watched from the window as the doctors worked on Leon's surgery. There were so many different sounds. I couldn't take my eyes off of him. Until there was a loud flatline tone. The doctor began doing CPR on him. I felt my heart shatter as they started using defibrillator to restart his hearts. I was so scared and shocked. So much that I soon passed out from everything.

-Author's Note-

Well um Tada? I just thought I might just update this story now. So um what do you think? Should I fixed anything? And thanks for reading!


	24. Nightmare

I woke up in a bed covered by the white sheet. I looked around the room was empty and cold. I got out of bed and made my way to the door and opened it. I made my way to the ER and found the operating table had a white cloth over someone's body. There were blue stains and smudges on it. The body was no longer connected to the machines and there wasn't signs of life. The room was so quiet. I opened the door and walked to the bed. I gently pulled off the cloth to reveal, Leon's lifeless body. He had become pale and his tentacles lost their colors. His eyes were closed. I shook his lifeless body. I noticed my hands were stained with his blue ink, and it wouldn't come off.

"Hey wake up!" someone shouted

I jumped and latched onto Chizel. He stumbled back and fell down with me on top. He flashed pink. I quickly jumped off of him. He sat up and dusted himself off, and handed me a handkerchief for my tears.

"Well that must have been some dream…" Chizel cleaned his glasses, "You were tossing and turn so much. I kinda got worried"

"Leon! where's Leon?!" I glanced around.

"His surgery was a success, despite his hearts stopping on many occasions. Why did you want to see him?"

"Yeah, I-I do…" I wiped my tears

"Okay, come on" Chizel led me to the recovery wing.

He stopped in front of Leon's bed. Leon's tentacles weren't as bright, but he was sounded asleep. He still had an oxygen mask covering his mouth and nose. There were IVs and the heart monitor with all three line moving at a pace. I walked up to him and touched his chest. There were two separate beats, and he felt lukewarm. I hugged him and started crying. He stirred a bit and opened his eyes.

"Hey...buddy…" Leon gently patted my back, "why… are you crying?"

"Leon?" I sniffled as he wiped my tears

"I… like you... so squishy and warm…"

"What?"

"Huggies" he hugged me

"Leon's a bit loopy…" Chizel replied, "Don't mind him"

"Kiss me, Mommy!" Leon rubbed his face on my shirt

"No! bad Leon!"

"Kissy" Leon pecked me on my cheek

I turned red and he stupidly laughed.

"I like to eat Char's food when she's not looking" Leon started biting on his tentacles, "I sleep with no clothes on! Mommy always tell me to put my clothes on. I walked into the girl's locker room. I like hugging Dylan. It's so funny you like look kinda like him… I like you..."

"Leon… aren't you tired?" Chizel asked

"Tired? Nah I don't really know...Heheh… Can I eat you? You look like flan..."

"No! Bad! Go to sleep!"

"Aww but I wanted bacon with chocolate, waiter!"

Chizel pressed the button and some chloroform sprayed into Leon's mask and he quickly knocked out.

"Sorry, Leon woke up earlier so we wouldn't worry about him." Chizel scratched his head, "The doctor says he should rest for a while, so he can recover. He was so determined to wake up and staying up. We had to knock him out like that a few times."

"So will he be okay?" I asked

"Yeah, if he takes it easy for a while, and rests a lot"

"So where's Char? How is she?"

"She's over there. She caught a fever and needs to let her wounds recover"

I pulled the curtains and Char was fast asleep. She was connect to a heart monitor and IV too. She would sometimes cough as she breath in. I walked to her and touched her forehead. She was indeed warm. Her body was wrapped in bandages. She moved her hand out of the blanket and onto the pillow. I took her hand and rubbed the back of it with my thumb.

"You shouldn't get too close to her…" Chizel cautioned me, "You could get sick too."

"She will be okay right?" I asked

"She should, but she will have to stay in bed for awhile"

"I see… So um where's Marigo?"

"She's having a talk with the staff. She pretty mad at them for handcuffing Char to the bed"

"They what?!"

I pulled the sheet slightly and she was handcuffed to the bedrail. I touched her hand and she moved again. She coughed a bit and pulled her hand back under the blanket. I covered her with the blanket again.

"Okay I guess we better go back to our room" Chizel pulled me away

"Our room?" I raised my eyebrow

"Oh, that's right you don't know… Marigo owns this hospital. She has set up a living quartering for us."

"She can do that?!"

"Well she did so come on let's go back"

We made our way and rested for the night. I was so happy and relieved that they were going to be just fine. I hope I could talk to them tomorrow.

-Third POV-

Somewhere in Octopia, Luscas, Briar, and the tyrant's army sat around thinking of a plan. Mary and Maggie secretly made it back from Inkopolis, and stood before the tyrant.

"Aria is alive, that is impossible?! How is this even possible?!" Luscas shouted as he pounded at the table.

"W-well… the queen was part of an experiment that enable her to control water and swim through it…" Maggie nervously answered, "We just got the reports…"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU JUST GOT THEM?!"

Luscas slammed her into the wall. He held her by the neck and she squirmed trying to get free.

"It's the truth! It was a top secret project! Only those in Octavio's royal court knew!" Mary shouted at them.

"You were part of them weren't you, Maroon Pani?" Luscas dropped Maggie, "I have seen your cat… That was a project of yours wasn't it?"

"I don't know what you are talking about…"

"You don't? I sure you know too well… I can't have someone with that much power here… I hope you understand… Kill her."

A clear octoling jumped down and smiled at Mary. She took off her gloves, and walked towards Mary. Mary backed up and Cauldern jumped between them. Cauldern's body lit up on fire and roared at the Octoling.

"Back off Cubi!" Maggie ran beside Mary

"Oh you do have a cat" Cubi laughed, "I know how to fix it"

The sprinklers turned on and sprayed everyone with ink. Cauldern roared as her flames extinguished. She stumbled and and fell on to her side.

"Cauldern!" Mary ran to her.

She growled and tried to get back on her feet. Cubi just smiled as she casually walked over to Cauldern. Cauldern snarled at her as she grabbed onto Mary's neck with her gloved hand.

"Time to die, Maroon… Bye!"

"NO!" Maggie shouted

Cauldern pounced on her and Cubi touched her belly. Cauldern cringed but she picked up Maggie and Mary onto her back. She blasted a hole into the wall and dashed away. Soldiers tried to attack Cauldern, but she plowed through them.

"Stop! Let them go. Cubi's poison will be sure to kill that beast" Briar raised his hand

"Hehe… I was in the experimental soldier group." Cubi stretched out her body, "Just like Erazor… Though, I was spliced with a Sea Wasp, the deadliest venom there is."

"What was done to Erazor?"

"Him? I believe he was able to go into berzerker mode."

"Berzerker mode?"

"It's something that changes him into a rampaging speed demon. He will lose all control of himself and rip everyone to shreds. Friend or foe."

"Ah, I see…"

"It was based on another earlier experiment… Spark...Charge? Something that has to do with electricity..."

"Hmm… Whatever, let's just worry about them later..."


	25. Loopy

The next morning I got up early and walked to the recovery room. Char was sitting up as Callie and Marie ask her questions.

"Char, are you still loopy?" Callie shook her

"I'm dizzy… I want Marie's dress…" Char giggled and coughed.

"Yup, totally still loopy" Marie patted her on the head.

"I think my feet aren't the same size. I'm hot in here, (cough, cough) can I take off my clothes?"

"NO!" Callie shouted

"But I wanna…"

"Look I have a cookie!" Marie quickly pulled out a cookie, "be good or else you can't have it!"

"Cookie!" Char took the cookie and started nibbling on it.

"Good girl, now stay!"

"I am a girl? How are you so sure? (Cough) Can I see?"

Char started lifting up her gown, but Callie slapped her hands.

"OWWIE! Wahhh! Callie's being mean to me! (cough, cough, cough)"

"Look here's another cookie!" Callie handed her another cookie

"Yay cookie!" Char nibbled on the other cookie.

"So now what do we do? She's still loopy."

"Guess we can only wait"

"I peed in the bed when I was 13! "

Callie and Marie just stared at each other and back at her. Char giggled as she finished up the cookie.

"That's nice… Char…" Callie patted her head.

"OH! Hey there blue (wheeze) mister man" Char waved at me and the squid sister turned around

"Oh, morning Dylan" Callie greeted me, "How are your wounds?"

"Heheheh… That's not Dylan. Dylan's a-"

"Look another cookie!" Marie handed her another cookie.

"Wee!" She started nibbling on the cookie, "I like chip chocolate cookies. They're crunchy… (cough, wheeze)"

"Ah boy that was close…" Marie sighed, "Good thing we brought cookies with the us…"

"Oh my cut's getting better, and I guess I am good." I answered

"Wow you do sound like Dylan…" Char chirped up "I really like him! (cough) He's very nice and warm. I like to cuddle with him when I sleep. Heheh..."

I started blushing bright red. Callie and Marie started giggling at us.

"Oh my sounds like you two are pretty close…" Callie started teasing me

"I-i-it's not like that!" I stammered, "It was just cold in that room, and she was having trouble sleeping!"

"You didn't DO anything to her did you?" Marie crossed her arms

"NO!"

"Why are people shouting?!" Char hid under her blankets

I walked up to her and peeked under the sheets. Char hugged my head.

"Hehehe… I caught my prey heheh… You are warm… I like you…" Char ruffled my "tentacles"

"Char… please let go"

"But why?...(cough) I don't… understand why we can't be friends…(cough, cough, cough)" she released me.

"What? Char, what are you saying?"

"It hurts, (cough, cough) knowing that we can't be friends just because we are different … Am I supposed to hate you? (cough)"

"No, Char I was wrong… I was just upset… I said something I shouldn't have and I am sorry."

"I don't feel so good…" She laid back down, "It's so cold…"

Marie walked back up to her and touched her forehead.

"She's burning up… Callie get the doctor!" She replied.

"Char, are you okay?!" I took her hand, it was indeed very warm

"It's very… cold… my chest hurts..." she muttered

The doctors came in with Marigo and checked her temperature. They connected her to another IV drip.

"No… I don't wanna! Stop it!" Char became frantic, as she struggled and began to cried

They held her down and injected her with sedation. She squirmed around before knocking out completely.

"Char was very scared of the doctors," Marigo replied, "She pretty much terrified of them, and hid every time I told her we'll be going to the doctors. But that was years ago. What did Erazor do to her?"

The doctor gently covered her forehead with a wet towel, the nurses wiped her body down.

"I tortured her… " the doctor muttered, "I may have broke her"

"E-erazor?!" Marigo stepped back,

"Sorry, we got worried about the two" the nurse replied, "I secured the area and locked everyone in a closet"

"Mimi that is taking everything too far!"

All of the medical staff took their mask and revealed, Aria, Chomp, and Mimi in inkling form. Connie was in Chomp's clothes.

"You call that medical treatment?!" Connie climbed down from Chomp's shoulders

"Well we aren't doctors Connie…" Chomp replied, "We don't know squidly about medicine"

"I only know the basics…" Aria replied, "part of royalty upbring. That class was a pain. At least I got to see you right after."

"Nobody asked…" Chomp muttered

"I just thought you would like to know that…. Akkie…"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT! IT'S CHOMP!" she turned bright red

"But Akkie's much cuter than Chomp…"

"THE INK IS GOING ON HERE?!" Callie shouted

"Hey aren't you two the Squid Sisters?" Chomp tilted her head

"I'll explain a bit later okay?" Marigo sighed, "they are good Octolings"

"All done!" Connie returned.

"Huh? What did you do?" I asked

"I gave them proper treatment, and now they should recover so much quicker"

"Wow how'd you do that?"

"I was a medical student since forever…"

"Yeah, she has done almost all the surgery in Octopia, and check ups… nearly everything..." Chomp replied

"Wow you are a doctor?!" I asked

"Yup here's my license" Connie pulled out

"Whoa! That's insane!" Callie took Connie's license

"Yup."

"What?... Where I am?" Leon's voice muttered from the other side

"Leon!" I ran to the other side and he looked over at me

"Hey there…"

"Leon! You are okay!"

"I hurt and ache everywhere, but I'll live… I guess"

"Yup ain't Octarian medicine the best?" Connie smiled

I hugged him and he yipped.

"D-Dylan.. That really hurts…" Leon cringed, "Please let go…"

"Oh sorry…" I released him, "I was just so happy and relieved"

"Oh heh, that's kinda embarrassing, but I am happy to hear that"

Leon flash pink for a second as he scratched his head.

"Hey there… Umm sorry about attacking you…" Erazor walked in and Leon jumped, "Opps that's going to hurt…"

Leon was crying as he curled into a ball. I helped him back onto his bed.

"I don't know if I could forgive you for what you did to Char…" Leon rubbed his arm

"Well, I guess that is only natural…" Erazor scratched his cheek with one of his claws

"Humph, neither can I…" Mimi crossed her arms

"Mimi… I said I was sorry… I'm nothing without you!" He turned into a blue ringed octopus and held on to her leg, "I can't live without you!"

"Get off! I'm still mad at you!" She tried to kick him off

"MIMI!"

"Umm so um what are your plans now?" Leon asked

"Well I guess we'll lay low here for a while…" Aria replied, "We don't really have a place to go to yet. I think it's a great place to get to know Akkie better."

"In your dream!" Chomp looked away

"Aww come on don't be like that…"

"We should probably head back before they wake up. Let's go Connie."

"Coming!" Connie answered.

They remove the medical uniform and left. Connie took Chomp's hand and they walked together back to the lab. Aria discarded her uniform and followed them out. Mimi finally got Erazor off and threw him. She ran off. He slid down from the wall and chased after her.

"Get back here! You can't just run off without answering our questions!" Callie and Marie ran after them.

A small knock on the door and Chizel opened the door. He walked in with a pink Inkling girl.

"Leon!" the pink Inkling ran over to him

"Hey, Ruby…" he smiled at her

"I heard you were at the hospital! What happened?"

"Uh, I got into a fight? Yeah, a pretty bad one I guess"

"Well, I got you something…" She pulled out a container, "You probably are starving…"

When she opened the lid off and the smell of bacon filled the air. Leon was practically drooling.

"BACON!" Leon jumped out of his bed and instantly regretted it, "OW!

"Leon!" Ruby and I helped him.

She handed him the container and Leon happily munched away. She turned and looked at me.

"Hello there, I don't believe we've met before." She adjusted her glasses and held out her hand, "I'm Ruby Blank. I'm Leon's friend. What's your name?"

"Hes mnamem ems mDylanm" Leon replied with his mouth full of bacon

"Um, Dylan, my name is Dylan" I shook her hand

"Ah, that's what I thought Leon said…" she giggled, "What a funny name… Oh well nice to you, Dylan"

Someone kicked the door open, and an orange boy Inkling ran in followed by an older dark green one.

" CHIZEELL! OMG! ARE YOU HURT?!" The orange Inkling grabbed Chizel's face, "LIKE SPEAK TO ME MAN!"

"Maybe you should let go of Chizel's face, Mango…" The green one muttered

"OH! Oops, like sorry, Chizel"

"Ow..." Chizel rubbed his cheek, "Mango, Varday, what brings you two here?"

"I heard from Big Bro that you and everyone got hurt" Mango replied, "Oh like, where's Jazzy at?"

"She's still in the other room..."

"I'M COMING JAZZY!" Mango ran out of the room

"Welp there he goes again…" Varday sighed, "He'll be fine considering Robin is the head doctor"

"Ah, Robin… How is he doing?" Chizel asked, "I haven't seen him for awhile"

"Hey! No running in the hall!" someone cried out

"SORRY!" Mango called back

"Oh boy…" Varday sighed, "Oh well, I don't feel like chasing him… You guys do have some explaining to do"

"Oh that's right." Ruby pointed out,"Everyone" saw small glimpses of you guys on TV after the airwaves were hijacked… It was very fuzzy though."

"Yeah we could only make out your voices… Though there was some voices we didn't know, but whatever… You guys are safe…"

"We couldn't sit still when Char's life was in danger…" Leon replied , "What did you want us to do?"

"It's okay, Leon. We're not saying you did a bad thing…" Ruby rubbed her arm, "It's just… please be more careful…"

"Oh…" Leon swallowed his saliva, "Sorry, I worried you Ruby…"

Jazzy and Mango returned back into the room. Mango held on to her.

"Jazzy, like I'm so happy everyone is like okay and stuff" Mango cheered

"So this is where everyone is…" Jazzy replied

"Hey! Like who are you?" Mango darted at me, "I haven't seen you before! Heheh…. The name's Mango, cutie!"

"Oh, um… Dylan…" I shook his hand

"Oooh, he's got manners too! Charmed, Dylan."

"Hey, you are staring at him a bit too much," Leon's ears folded back

"Oh, my what's this?! Are you jelly Leon?" Mango covered his mouth

"WHAT?! NO! DON'T BE AN IDIOT!" Leon turned bright pink, "IT'S RUDE TO STARE!"

"Aww, Leon wants some TLC. Don't worry I'll take great care of you too!"

Mango hugged Leon and Leon began sulking as he sunk into his sheets. Chizel just scratched his face.

"How long are you going to keep cuddling him?" Varday sighed

"I can do this forever!" Mango change into a squid and jumped into Leon's arms

"No." Leon dropped him, but Mango held onto his face.

"Nope, not until you feel better!"

"SPLAT ME!" Leon whined

Char slowly sat up. She still looked dazed.

"Hey, there are so many people here…" She looked around, "I like green tea…"

"She's still loopy?" I asked.

"She's loopy?! OOO!" Mango ran over to her, "Hey there Char! Tell me something about Leon!"

"Leon? He eats a lot of food. I wonder how he doesn't gain any weight… Hahah… Chubby Leon would be funny… Hey did you know I am agen-"

"HEY CHAR! What's that?" Jazzy shouted

"AHHH ! WHERE?!" Char smacked Mango's face.

"OWWIE! That really hurt…"

"Sorry… Mango. Hey Mango's a fruit… Can I eat you? I like sweet mango with sticky rice..."

"... uh, no…"

"Oh.. okay… You know I like Dylan… He's so very warm… You should sleep with him in bed. He can warm up the bed. Hahaha..."

"Oh my…" Mango looked at me and I started blushing, "What do you say about that?"

"I-I-" stammered

"NO! GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER!" Leon threw his pillow at Mango

"Hey Char… tell me does Leon or Chizel like anyone?" Mango smirked

"Like? Like like-like? I think they really like-"

"NOOOOO!" Both Leon and Chizel flashed red.

"Wahh…. People are yelling at me again…"

"Char tell me who they like! I am dying to know!"

"Who? Are we talking about?"

"Leon and Chizel!"

"They like cake! I like cake too! Can I have some cake?"

"C-cake?"

"OF COURSE YOU CAN!" Chizel covered Mango's mouth, "I'LL GO GET SOME FOR YOU WITH MANGO!"

"Really?!" Mango squealed.

Chizel dragged Mango out of the room.

"Wee… I get cake! I going to eat some cake!"

"Hello Char" Varday walked up to her

"Hiya mister!"

"How are you feeling?"

"I feel funny… Can I have a piggy back ride?"

"Heh… I think Marigo would get mad if I do that"

"Aww okay."

"Ah, you are a good squid aren't you?" he petted her

"Yay!" Char happily twitched her ears

"You should rest okay?"

"Can Dylan sleep with me?"

"..." Varday looked over at me "...er...sure?"

"Yay!" She pulled me into the bed and cuddled with me

Varday tilted his head, and I turned a deep red. I shrugged and Varday just smiled and scratched his cheek. He walked over and petted me.

"Be good you two." He sat down in a chair

Jazzy walked up to us and snapped a picture of us.

"Jazzy, um, how are you feeling?" I asked her

"My shoulder's still pretty sore, but why should you worry about that?" She snapped at me.

"Jazzy, I am so sorry. I was stupid, and I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?"

"Fine… but just this once. Those look nice on you…"

She flashed pink for a second and looked away. A knock on the door caught our attention. A pale teal Inkling in a doctor's uniform came into the room.

"Geez, what's with today? I get shoved into the closet in my boxers…" He muttered, "Oh Leon, you are up"

"Hey Robin. How are you doing?" Ruby greeted him.

"Well, um I honestly don't know. Today is just kinda weird. Nevermind me though. Leon you look so much better. How are you doing?"

"I am doing okay." Leon answered, "I feel a bit sore and tired, but okay I guess."

"That is rather amazing I was afraid you were going to die…"

"I was going to die?"

"Without the machine pumping ink through our body you were doomed to die by tomorrow."

"Ah.. I see…" Leon fell back into his bed, "I don't really know what to say about that…"

"It was that bad?" Jazzy covered her mouth.

"Ack! I didn't mean to worry you all!" Robin covered his mouth, "Oh boy… I made a mess… Sorry"

"Hey we're back!" Mango ran in with the cake box in his arms

"Mango, why do you have cake?" Robin asked

"Char wanted some so me and Chizel got some! Oh! You guys are sleeping to together! HOW CUTE!"

I turned even redder when Char nuzzled against my chest as she moved closer to me. Mango was pretty much just ecstatic about this. Varday just smiled and scratched his head. Robin just sighed.

"Mango! I told you to not run…" Chizel was catching his breath at the door, "Eh?"

"Come on Dylan! Now's your chance!" Mango cheered

"What?!" I started blushing

"You know!" he made a kissy face

"WHAT?! NO! I-I-I CAN'T!"

"Huh?" Char woke up, "ACK! WHO ARE YOU?!"

She jumped out of bed but the handcuffs made her hit her head against the bed.

"Char!" Robin and Varday ran over to her

"Oww…" Char was tearing up, "What is going on?"

"Oh boy, I told them the handcuffs would be a too much…" Robin sighed and helped her up, "I am so sorry Char."

"Robin why am I handcuffed? Where I am?" she rubbed her head, "and who are you?"

"How's about you sit down first okay?" Varday checked her head, "Oh, it became a bump… Well don't jump next time sport."

He petted her and she smiled.

"Varday!" She hugged him

"Huh? I thought you two were BF and GF…" Mango replied

"Silly Char! You know Dylan! Right?!" Jazzy nudged her.

"Dylan?" She covered her mouth, "Oh my gosh! I am so sorry Dylan."

"Nevermind that are you okay?" I asked walking to her.

"I have a bump on my head, but I guess I'm okay."

"Can I see?"

"Sure, okay"

She put down her hand and I gently rubbed the back of her head. She winced a bit. I petted her like Varday did. She smiled and flashed pink. She looked back at me as her ears twitched.

"OMG KISS KISS!" Mango cheered

"WHAT?! NO!" Char changed bright red, "W-we-we are j-just friends!"

I quickly turned away and rubbed my arm. We were both turning different shades of red. Mango started pouting.

"Aww I thought I was gonna see some lovey dovey stuff. Oh well, I guess I can get a shot too right cutie?"

I began fidgeting around. Char threw a pillow at him.

"Stop it, you are embarrassing him!" Char whined

"Aw, come on Char. How can I help it? He's so CUTE! Even you'll agree with me."

Char was at a loss for words as she hid her face in her other pillow. Varday, Jazzy, Chizel, and Robin started laughing. Leon just smiled and rubbed his arm.

"You think so too right Leon?" Mango smirked, "I see you getting all shy!"

"WHAT?! NOO! Y-Y-YOU'RE A SP-SP-SPLATTING IDIOT!" Leon turned dark red, "I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Aww what's wrong Leon? Are you embarrassed?" Mango teased, "Good cuz you look even CUTER!"

"ARGHH! SPLAT ME!"

"Anyways let's have some cake" Mango beamed, "I got it specially for everyone"

"Chizel, I thought you both were going to get the cake," Varday suggested

"I couldn't keep up with him…" Chizel sighed, "He got there before I did…"

Mango began passing out the slices of cake. I took a bite and smiled. It was very good.

"Hey this is very good! What kinda of cake is this?" I asked

"Like it? It's mango… You can come with me and taste some more..." Mango giggled

Leon spat his cake up. Everyone made a face, and I turned bright red. Mango was having a blast.

"OMG I'm just kidding! HAHAHA!" Mango was laughing so hard he was changing color, "I got you all so good! It is mango though, but not 'that' Mango. HAHAHAHA!"

"ARGHH!" Leon threw his slice at Mango, "I inking lost my appetite because of you!"

"It does look tasty… but I can't really move my arms" Char smiled as she struggle to put her plate down, "So I'll pass-"

"Wait here," I took a piece of her cake on her spoon and brought it to her mouth.

"Dylan… you don't have to…" She flashed pink and moved back a bit

"Come on it's the least I can do… So here…"

She flashed pink again and took the spoon in her mouth. She sheepishly smiled at me. I began feeding her. Mango happily watched us. In fact, I think everyone was and I got even more embarrassed with them watching. When I finally finished, Mango clapped.

"Oh Char, aren't you going to thank him?" Mango smirked, "With say, a kiss? Hmmm?!"

Char turned bright red. I just looked at him and back to Char. I began blushing.

"IDIOT!" Leon threw a fork at him, "Quit making this awkward!"

"Ouchies… Come on just a peck on the cheek!" Mango dodged another fork

Char threw a pillow at Mango and he fell over. Varday walked over to Mango and helped him up.

"Come on I believe it's time for us to head back to work now" Varday replied as he dragged Mango away.

"Nooo! I haven't seen any lovey-dovey stuff yet!" Mango cried out as he got dragged out

"Shoot I need to go too" Ruby ran out, "If I'm late boss will have my tentacles for breakfast tomorrow."

Once everyone left we just chatted until we got tired. Char and Leon looked so much better from yesterday. Whatever Connie did, she's a genius. I will have to thank her and the other Octolings later. For now I will rest happy that Char and Leon will be okay.

-Author's Notes-

Well two chapters. Yay! This one is actually pretty longer than the others.

A Random Guy: The Pokemon story was just something I will get back to after one of the story is completed. It was an Idea I had for 5 years or so. But don't worry I will continue working on One Fateful Day. Thank you for your support. But please try not to post reviews on a story about another story. It kinda bothers me a bit. Lol just a mild pet-peeve.

Anyways how is it so far? Should I fix anything? Thanks for reading!


	26. Reflections

Chomp's POV

I finally got back to the lab. Connie started wandering around the lab. I sat on the couch and quickly fell asleep. It was nice until I felt someone move on the couch. I opened one of my eyes to see Aria sit on the other side of the couch.

"Oh, I woke you up… Sorry." She smiled at me, "Actually I wanted to ask you something"

"If I answer it will you leave me alone?" I muttered

"I might… But only for today."

"Fine, what do you want?"

"What do you like?"

"What?"

"Err, you know… your favorite things?"

"I'm leaving." I stood up and walked away.

"Hey, come on Akkie!"

I put on my ring and changed into a black-tentacled Inking. I stormed out of the lab. I was so inking annoyed. Out of every other Octopi why me? I looked over at my reflection, and saw someone who was nothing special. I just growled as I shoved my hands into my shark hoodie's pockets. I just started wandering around the city. I made sure Aria wasn't following me. Walking around and looking at things usually calms me down. I must have been walking for several hours, since my stomach growled at me. I looked around and found a bakery. I walked on in and a yellow inkling greeted me.

"Oh hello! Welcome to Starry Night's!" She smiled and bowed

"Oh, hi." I answered

"I never seen you around here… Did you just moved in?"

"I guess you can say that."

"OH! In that case, anything you want will be on me today!"

"Eh?"

"No need to be modest! I'm Harvest Mune! Please be my guest." She showed me the different desserts behind the glass.

"Um, whatever you say…" I looked at the cute little pastries.

To be completely honest, I couldn't help but to smile at how pretty or cute everything was. I honestly haven't a clue what I wanted. It wasn't long until a bright blue Inkling ran into me.

"Owwie! Oh hiya!" he smiled at me

"Ari! I told you you can't just…" an identical kid with pink eyes quickly bowed, "Oh! I am so sorry! He can be hyper sometimes... Ari apologize!"

"Hey, don't worry about it… Just be careful next time." I pet Ari on his head.

"Yay! I like her!" Ari's black eyes sparkled, "Corol, she's a nice lady!"

"Ugh, I'm sorry about that…" Corol sighed, "Oh is there anything we can help you with?"

"Actually, this is my first time here…" I scratched the back of my hoodie, "I haven't ever had anything like this before…"

"What?! No way!" Ari looked shocked, "Geez, where did you live? Under a rock?"

" _Well, in a cave… But close enough…"_ I scratched my cheek.

"ARI! That's so rude!" Corol bonked Ari on his head, "Well how's about this? Why don't you choose a couple of them? That way you can try different ones."

"Err that maybe too much…" I replied.

"It's okay everything will be on me!" Harvest grinned, "Go ahead! I'm sure Stella won't mind."

"Yay, let give her one of everything!" Ari started running around the room collecting each treat.

"Ari! How many times do I have to tell you? No running!" Corol helped out.

I started looking at a pretty slice of cake. It was bright blue going to a warm purple pink. with little white stars on it. Harvest noticed me staring at it. She smiled and put in on a plate.

"Here, give it a try" She handed it to me with a fork.

"Oh, um thanks." I reluctantly took it and sat down.

She sat down across from me. Ari brought a bunch of boxes and set them on the table.

"Wow! That's a great choice!" Ari smiled, " That's Mommy's Starry night cake. It's made with whipped cream icing and had white chocolate chips. The cake is chocolate, I think."

"I made that from Mom's recipe... Yeah, it's chocolate" Corol replied, "It even has white chocolate chips in the cake itself. It probably isn't that great..."

"That sounds… very interesting?" I answered.

To be honest I haven't have cake since I was a hatchling. I can't remember what sweets taste like since. Our cafe only had plain breads and different drinks. So something like this seems unreal. I took a bit of it and ate it. It was actually very good. It wasn't overly sweet or too dry.

"Wow, this is delicious!" I smiled as I took another spoonful

"Really?! You really think so?!" Corol's eyes sparkled as I pet his head

"Yeah, good job!"

"I wanna be pet!" Ari jumped up and down

"All right you too." I pet him and his ears twitched

"Say you know you are good with kids huh?" Harvest rested her head on her hand,

"Oh well, I pretty much raised my sister"

"Hey you know you have pretty green eyes..."

"Huh?" I flashed pink, "Oh thanks…"

"If you don't mind… could you visit us often? I wouldn't mind getting to know you...um..."

"Chomp, my name's Chomp Akkie Haptogaloes"

"Chomp, I look forward to seeing you again"

I finished up my cake and took all my boxes. I waved bye to everyone before I left. I headed back to the lab. I was in a pretty good mood now. Everyone stared at me when I entered the room. I looked on the floor a dying black kitten as Mary sobbed beside it. Connie was trying her best to keep her alive.

"What?" I dropped my boxes, "Cauldern!"

"Chomp… she's been poison…" Connie started crying, "She's dying too fast."

"Cubi got her didn't she?" Erazor asked.

"It's all my fault…" Mary gently petted Cauldern

Cauldern weakly mewed. Erazor walked over and knelt down. He grabbed one of Cauldern's tentacles wrapped around her neck and unwrapped them. He pinched her below her jaw. She changed into a reddish- orange Inkling with black strips.

"She's an Inkling?!" Connie fell back on her butt.

He ran off somewhere and poured ethanol on Cauldern.

"Hey if you wanna live kitty catch on fire, one last time!" he put a hissing air tank next to her her, "And everyone else run for your lives unless you wanna become extra crispy!"

Everyone ran out of the room and the room burst into a fiery explosion. I grabbed all my boxes and ran. The flames quickly retreated back into the room. Cauldern stumbled out to peek out of the door. Her tentacles were bubbling and steaming as she looked for us.

"Cauldern!" Mary ran to her

Cauldern fell when she tried to run to her. Mary knelt down and hugged her. Cauldern reverted into a small black kitten with ember stripes. I walked up to Cauldern and tried to pet her.

"You burn yourself without protection" Mary replied, "I have a high heat resistant lab coat.

"I see… Well glad to see you are better." I replied

"Erazor, I don't know how to even thank you." Mary looked at him, "How did you know?"

"Well the thing is that jellyfish venom are just cells leaking chemicals. So burn theming them to oblivion would normally kill us or Inklings, but it would be just what the doctor ordered for things like her"

"Merrow!" Cauldern meowed as she shook ember from her body.

She loudly purred in Mary's arms. She jumped down and catch on fire. She happily scampered around us.

"Um isn't this a fire hazard?" I asked "Like isn't everything going to catch on fire?"

"No, she can control her flames." Mary replied

Cauldern pounced on Garden. Garden looked annoyed as he nipped at her tail. She yelped and jumped. He put her down and she tried to pounce on him again. His vines wrapped around her and put her down. Wind came out and flew around the two.

"Wait so Cauldern is an inkling… Wind is a tapeworm… and Garden is a turtle?" I asked

"Well to be honest… Wind is part tapeworm, she's actually an inkling too…" Maggie admitted.

"What?!"

"She's an Inkling hatchling… Here I'll show you. Wind, come here sweetie!"

Wind happily nuzzled her head against Maggie's belly. Maggie press on Wind's temples and she shrunk into a tiny clear hatchling. She happily wrapped her tiny tentacles around Maggie's fingers. I walked up to her and poked Wind's mantle. Wind cooed and wrapped her tentacles around my fingers. I felt her beak as she nibbled on my fingers. I gently scratched her fin and happily cooed.

"You know she had a deformed beak when she was born." Mary smiled, "She couldn't open it since it was fused together. We had to surgically separate them, but now she can eat and drink in this form. You know she really loves jello."

"She does?" I asked, "That's pretty cute…"

"I have some jello mix wanna feed her?"

"I can?"

"Here you go all you need is hot water" She handed me three different packets

I put Wind down and the packets down. Wind whined and waved her tentacles at me.

"Choose one Wind. Which jello would you like?" I asked.

Wind looked at the packets and swam to the purple one. She started nibbling on it. I took it and she waved her tentacles at me again. Just as soon as I stood up she started to cry. She swam up to my leg and flopped up and down. I knelt back down and she waved her tentacles at me again. I picked her up and she nuzzled against me.

"Aww, she likes you…" Maggie smiled

I just smiled and walked to get a kettle going. Wind cuddled in my arm and fell asleep. Aria walked in and she smiled widely. I felt annoyed already.

"You would be such a good mother…" She praised me, "So um you never answered my question..."

"Back off… I don't understand you at all." I sighed, "Why do you keep chasing after someone like me?"

"Huh?"

"You are a splatting princess… I'm just a peasant and a plain one at best. You can do so much better."

"Oh? I could do better? Are you actually concerned about me?"

"No, don't misunderstand me. I don't like you…"

"But you are concerned about me. That means you care."

"Your highness don't, just don't. I can only hurt you, okay? I don't wanna break your heart."

The kettle whistled and I turned off the fire. Wind cooed as I place her down on the table. She swam up and held on to my finger as I poured the mix into the bowl and then the hot water. I looked at my and Aria's reflection in the bowl. I just sighed as I stirred it.

"Try me…" she put her hand on mine

"What?" I flashed pink

"Try me"

"No." I pulled my hand away

Wind swam after my hand. She happily flopped up and down when she reached my hand. I picked Wind up and placed the bowl in the freezer. I left the room and Aria followed me. I put Wind back on Garden's shell. She began whining and crying as I ran from the room. Aria chased after me. I dove into the floor and swam away. I swam pretty far. I jumped up and changed back my armor to my hoodie.

I was catching my breath. I put on my ring just in case Inklings spotted me and leaned back against the wall behind me. I just sighed and ran my hand through my tentacles.

" _She just doesn't get it. This is insanity, she should just give it up. She should know that royalty and peasants can't mix. I don't even like her, at least that way. I haven't a clue what she sees in me anyways. I am just a tomboy. I am nothing special. I'm not cute or attractive. The ink is wrong with her."_

I glanced over at a puddle and looked at my reflection. I tried to understand what she saw in me. It just annoyed me even more. I kicked the puddle and walked away. I heard a faint sound and dove back into the floor and swam away again. I swam as fast as I could as Aria chased me through the streets. I made a sharp turn and splashed ink at her. She became stuck to the floor and I got away. I swam farther away and stopped in a forest beyond Inkopolis. I was exhausted from getting chased all around the city. I was too tired to move. I just fell onto my butt and leaned against a tree.

"Hehehe… you aren't the princess…" A voice came from behind a tree, "But you will have to do…"

I stood up again only to be grabbed by my neck and slammed against a tree. My neck started painfully burning. I started struggled and clawed at my attackers hand. My chest started hurting and I couldn't breathe. My attacker dropped me and a letter onto the floor. She then left me there. I was in so much pain as I gripped my chest and writhe around.

"Akkie!" Aria ran and lifted me up, "No… NO! Akkie hold on!"

I looked up at her. Her eyes were filled with tears and she held on to me tightly. Aria's cries became muffled. I closed my eyes and everything faded to black.

-Author's Notes-

Hey everyone E3 was interesting. There will be great games out this year and next. So I believe most schools are out now. Happy Summer to all! Sorry if you guys wanted two chapters on both chapters I was kinda busy. Actually the second chapter for this story is done, but the other story's isn't so... yeah. I just posted one of them for each.

So same as always and thanks for reading.

( I got lazy so I copied and pasted the author's note. lol)


	27. Thin Lines

Aria's POV

"AKKIE! AKKIE PLEASE! WAKE UP!" I shouted at her as I held her hand

I made water go onto her red blistering skin to remove the jellyfish cells. I grabbed the letter. I carried her and rushed to the lab as fast as I could. Everyone just stared at me when I kicked the door down.

"Chompie!" Connie ran over to us.

"Connie! Do something!" I cried out as I placed Akkie down

She quickly touched Chomp's neck and started crying. She started doing CPR on Chomp.

"Go get Marigo!" Connie shouted at us.

We scrambled out to get help or someone to do something. Soon, Mimi came back with Marigo, Robin, and Dylan.

"What's going on?!" Marigo asked.

"Chompie is dying!" Connie replied, "She got venom in her system. I'm losing her! Please help!"

Robin spent no time he poured vinegar all over her, and connected her to an IV drip.

"You keep doing CPR," Robin ordered, "What type of Jellyfish is it?"

"It was a Box Jellyfish." Erazor answered

"... you-... Forget it, that doesn't matter now" Robin took out an antivenom IV drip and connected to Chomp.

He stopped Connie for a bit and inserted the breathing tube down her throat. He put her finger into the clamp for the heart monitor. All of the lines were flat lines.

"Akkie… No..." I covered my mouth and fell on my butt.

"Dylan get the defibrillator" Robin pointed to his bag

"Got it!" Dylan got them and ran back.

"Okay get ready, until I say now… okay now!"

Dylan pressed the metal panels on her chest, and Chomp's body jumped. The lines were still flat, so they repeated this procedure for a while. Finally one of her heart started up again.

"It's beating again! Quickly, give her zinc gluconate," Dylan told Robin.

"What? What for?" Robin looked at him

"Just trust me!"

Robin pulled out an empty syringe and a vial. He shook the vial, extracted the liquid from it, and injected it into the inside of her arm. He stepped back and wiped his forehead.

"Alrighty, now we wait…" Robin glared at Marigo, "But before anything does anyone wanna explain what the INK is going on?! Why are there Octarians in the lab?!"

"Robin, they aren't our enemies they helped save Char." Marigo replied

"Well… if you say so…I guess you guys are the one who stripped me down to my boxers..."

"Hehehe… Sorry… " Erazor grinned, "We wanted to check on our friends

"Wait aren't you that Octoling that tortured Char in the first place?"

"Maybe… Hey I am on your side now. That better than me ripping you to shreds, right?"

"Errr noted"

A gurgle caught my attention. Chomp opened her eyes and we rush over to her. Robin removed the tube from her throat. She coughed and looked at us.

"What… Where am I?" Chomp weakly muttered

"CHOMPIEE!" Connie jumped and hugged her

"Akkie…" I was tearing up, "Thank goodness…"

"... Your... highness-"

I hugged her as tightly as I could. She just sighed and hugged me back. I just cried on her hoodie. I kissed her and she freaked out again. She was too tired to do anything else so she just let me. She turned bright red. I broke the kiss and looked at her. She just looked away and I took her hand.

"I… like cute things…" She muttered

"Huh?" I asked

"You asked about what I like… There I told you…. Happy?"

"Akkie… I am so happy!" I hugged her

"Okay… That's enough… Please stop…" She tried to pushed me off.

"Chomp, uh" Dylan stammered, "I'm um, glad you are okay…"

"You are? You sure are a strange person aren't you?" She smiled a bit

"Can I get a hug too?"

"And now you want a hug me? You are very weird. But all right…"

Dylan walked over and hugged her. Chomp hugged him back. He let her go and just smiled. A happy cried came from the room as Garden entered the room. He walked toward us and Wind darted at Chomp. Wind reverted into her tiny hatchling form and nuzzled her chest. Chomp held Wind in her arms and Wind wrapped her tiny tentacles around Chomp's arm. Wind swam into her hoodie pocket. She would peek out and hide back in there. Chomp soon fell asleep and Wind cuddled in her hoodie pocket. I happily watched her sleep for a while. I took out the letter and opened it up. The note read:

"Consider this a warning to you. If you do not surrender, all you know and love will be destroyed. Come to Octo Valley with the ancient creature to surrender by the third sunset or we will come find you and kill all your allies"

I crumpled the paper, and stood up. I couldn't let my friends get hurt. I sighed and walked outside. I took out my phone and dial the number.

"Hey we've got trouble." I told my friend

"Don't tell me, you want to keep this a secret from your Octopi friends, right?" he replied, "All right, I'll help. But umm, hey Aria? Since you are in Inkopolis… and you know how much of a BIG fan of Callie I am… Could you, um, get me an autograph?!"

"Well, I got it right here… How could I forget about you?"

I pulled the phone away as he fangirled and squealed.

"Well, ow. Hey, so I'll see you soon, okay? I need to get something for… someone."

"Well okay just come down here soon. Don't think they want me keeping the doors open for long. So make it quick."

"Alright, see you later Os"

I walked to a headgear store and picked out a cute black fish bone hairclip. I walked back to the lab and put it next to Akkie with a letter. I made sure nobody was around and kissed Akkie's forehead. I ran back outside and made my way to the pier. I jumped into the sea and dove in my octopus form into the depths.


	28. Fun at the Inkpark

Mango's POV

This like isn't very fair… Stupid work, man. I muttered as I plopped into my seat. I picked up the piece I was was working on. I started fantasizing about Leon, Chizel, and Dylan. I happily worked on my stuff as I fantasized about how cool Leon was and cutely shy Chizel is. Dylan was so kind and pretty cute. I wonder why I never met him before. He seemed to be our age after all. I never seen him at school. I would have seen him with his shirt if he went to our school, because of PE. Leon always had nice fit body. Chizel is a bit thinner, but still has a nice body. I can only imagine what a cutie like Dylan looked like under those clothes.

"Mango… You're drooling again" Varday's voice snapped me back to reality.

"Huh? What?" I answered back

"You are drooling all over that hard drive…"

I looked at my drool on the hard and screamed. I rushed and grabbed tissues and dried the hard drive. Varday snickered at me as he typed away on his keyboard. I checked the hard drive and made sure it was clean. I inserted it on to the motherboard. I sighed as I poked my screwdriver at the cover of the case.

"Okay, why don't you go see them, and have the whole day off tomorrow?" Varday turned to look at me

"No way you mean it?!" I squealed and ran over to hug him, "OMGTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!"

"Already, now quit your moping, we got orders to fill"

"AYE AYE CAPTAIN!" I went straight to work.

I built at least 50 computer towers by the end of the day and fixed up 30 more. Varday was pleased with my work and gave me a lot of cash this time. I continued fantasizing about what Dylan looks like under his clothes. I made my way back home and planned out tomorrow.

The next day I eagerly jumped out of my bed and raced to the hospital.

"Hello Mango, are you looking for Robin? He should be in the room with Char and Leon." the reception squid greeted me

"Kay thanks!" I took the elevators up and ran into their room.

Everyone stared at me. Callie, Marie, and that old geezer were there for some reason. Robin just sighed and pinched his temples.

"Mango, how many times do I have to tell you to knock?" Robin scolded at him.

"Oppises, sorry bro." I grinned and scratched my nose.

"Actually, you maybe just what we needed" Callie responded, "You did say your little brother is a tech wiz kid right?"

"Err… what?"

"You know how to hack into things don't you?" Marie asked

"Well, a bit, but not as well as Varday"

"Okay can you intercept Octopia's radio waves, again?" that old geezer asked

"Oh, yeah. I did that for you before, didn't you? I can set it up for you… BUT I have one request!"

"NOPE NO WAY NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!" Leon shouted, "I quit!"

"awww… Come on Leon… You didn't even listen to my request yet…"

"I don't wanna, I'm going home!"

"Okay that's fine. I guess you guys don't need my expertise" I started walking away

"Leon… Please! We don't have anyone else to do this" Marie replied

"What about Varday?" Leon snapped back

"He's busy working the shop today… Please, I'll take you out for food!" Callie suggested.

Leon stopped and thought about it.

"As much as I love food… I-I can't do this." He shuddered.

"Well, I guess I will get Dylan all to myself…" I snickered as I put my arm around him

"Huh?" Dylan looked at me confused

"SPLAT NO!" Leon growled, "I would wish that upon no squid! FINE! I'll play your stupid game…"

"Great! I'm glad you saw it my way. SO I got tickets to the inkpark! You ALL have to spent time with me there, deal?"

Everyone reluctantly nodded their heads. I widely grinned and took one of their phones. I enter some codes and stuff on there. I switched the channels until some voices could be heard. I gave the phone back to the old geezer. Everyone headed out to the inkpark, but we had to stop at Char's apartment so everyone else could get their swimming outfits. Char refused to come out of her bathroom for some reason.

"Char? You okay in there?" Jazzy knocked on the door.

"I… don't have a swimsuit…" She replied back

"Yes you do. Come on! Get out of there and let's see it" I replied

"No! I look chubby…"

"Don't make me come in there"

"Okay, okay!" she came out completely pink.

She wrapped herself in a towel so we couldn't see her swimsuit. She was so flustered. The longer we looked at her the bright pink she turned.

"Can I please change back into my clothes?! PLEASE!" She looked away.

"Not a chance!" I smirked, "You are SO cute when you are like this."

"Quit it!" Char ran into her room.

"Wait! Come on Char! I bet it looks great! Come on out!" Chizel knocked on her door

"Nuh uh!" she replied.

"Mango, see what you did?!" Leon narrowed his eyes

He had blue wave patterns on his swim trunks, and a white tee with a dark blue squid on it. Chizel sighed as he rubbed his arms. He had a yellow shorts with white triangles on them and a orange and yellow tropical button up shirt. Jazzy and Dylan were picking out swim trunks since Jazzy refused to see Dylan in the speedo I picked out for him. I am a bit salty, but it's okay. They all have to take their shirts off anyways. I am so happy. I will have to thanks Varday big time for this.

"Hehehe… Opps" I smiled

"Come on Char! At least let me in too!" Leon whined

"We're back!" Jazzy walked into the room.

Dylan was wearing dark blue striped shorts and an orange T shirt. Jazzy wore a white cover over her white and purple two piece. Char opened the door and Leon ran in. She closed the door again and locked it.

"Hey, I wanna go in too!" I changed into my squid form and went under the door.

Leon stomped on my mantle.

"Owwie…" I lifted his foot and jumped onto his belly, "Yay! Hug"

"Let GO!" Leon struggled to break free

"Char?" Jazzy knocked on the door, "I'm coming in"

Jazzy opened the door and everyone came in

"Char, I'm sure you look fine" Chizel walked to her as she hid in her blankets, "Come on out of there"

He pulled the blanket off and she was wearing a white and lime green dress with starfishes on the lime green dress with starfish and shell designs on it. Char jumped and changed into squid and swam under her pillow.

"Char, you look cute" Chizel tried to shake her off the pillow, "Come on…"

"It's true, it suits you" Dylan replied scratching his head.

Char released the pillow and turned bright pink. I smiled and Leon pulled me off. He dropped me onto the floor. Char finally changed back and just fidgeted around with her fingers.

"Come on, let's go have fun!" I cheered and ran ahead.

Everyone made their way to the ink park. They got a locker and we all put our stuff in. I got to see everything I wanted. Leon's NICE bod. Chizel and Dylan's cute ones. I could die a happy squid right now. Leon noticed me staring and poked my forehead. I just smiled back at him.

"So what should we do first?" Chizel asked.

"I just wanna lay on the doughnut floaty and go around the lazy river" Char replied as she grabbed a large ring floatie.

"Sounds nice," Jazzy grabbed one too

"Come on Chizel, race you to the slide" Leon rushed off

"Hey! No fair!" Chizel ran after him

"I wanna come!" I grabbed Dylan and pulled him, "Let's have fun Dylan!"

"Oh, okay" he replied

The boys and I got to the line and waited our turn. It was a pretty long line. So I decided to ask Dylan some stuff.

"So where are you from, Dylan?" I asked, "Never seen you before in Inkopolis"

"uhh, well… it's pretty far away… I just wanted to visit" He responded

"Aww, you are going back?"

"Um, no… I mean I just moved here"

"OH! That explains it! No wonder why you seem so weird, WAIT I didn't mean that in a bad way!"

"At least, he's nothing like you" Leon bonked me on the head

"Ow… How did you guys meet?"

Leon, Chizel, and Dylan looked at each other.

"He's my pen pal from the Inkernet of course" Chizel asked

"Seriously?! How come you never spoke about him before?" I asked

"Because you would make him feel uncomfortable"

"But, he's so cute…"

"Look it's our turn… bye Mango" Leon kicked me down the slide

I changed into squid as I was swirling down the slide. I was so dizzy, I feel my breakfast coming back up. Chizel yipped as he hit the cold water. He jumped straight out of the pool. Leon and Dylan soon join me in the pool.

"Serves you right for teasing us" Leon grinned

"Don't worry, I still love you guys" I gurgled and hugged Chizel

Chizel flashed pink and turned into a squid to get out of my grasps. I chased after him and he splashed me. I smirked and splashed at him back. He puffed his cheeks and tried to splash at me back. I ran and hid behind Leon. Chizel accidental splashed Leon. Everyone started splashed at each other, at first it was to get back at one another, but it soon was just for fun. We raced each other to see who can find Char and Jazzy first. When we spotted them, we all jumped into the water and startle the girls. Jazzy punched Leon right out of the pool.

"YA ALL NUTS?! YOU COULDA GAVE US A HEART ATTACK" Jazzy roared, "I'LL SPLAT ALL OF YOU!"

"J-j-jazzy, I'm so sorry" Chizel stammered, "We were just playing… I swear!"

She snarled and stomped inches from his face.

"You guys better fix it… NOW!" even the hatchlings began crying

All the Inkling guys quickly splitted and bought her snacks. She glared at us as we handed her a snack or drink. Char was hiding in the inner tube.

"Look Char, the guys are saying sorry"

She popped up her head from inner tube and swam closer. Her tentacles reached out and took some chocolate mousse and she returned back to floating on top of the inner tube. She happily smiled with every spoonful. Jazzy turned to us.

"Go on. Apologize, ya jerks" Jazzy ordered

"We're sorry…" we replied and bowed

"Good, now do that again. Ya all be in the hospital, capiche?"

All of us nodded. Leon shakily handed her some taro cake. He had a bandage on his cheek.

"You got me, good" Leon muttered.

Jazzy took a bite of the cake, and just smirked. Dylan walked up to Char.

"I didn't scare you too much did I?" He asked her

"Well, it was an accident. It's okay… Thanks for the mousse" Char smiled.

"Oh, do you want some more?"

"Huh? I shouldn-"

"Come on, I'll show you where I got it. The dessert place had such pretty desserts." Dylan took Char's hand.

"Oh, okay," She turned pink and followed him.

I noticed them and decided to spy on them. I was about to tail them when Leon grabbed me.

"Where do you think your going?" Leon asked

"I wanna go watch the lovey dovey stuff." I whined

"Lovey dovey?" Jazzy, Chizel, and Leon asked

"Get with it guys! Char and Dylan, come on! Don't tell me you aren't rooting for them to get together!"

"Err, they are just friends…" Leon replied, "we all are…"

"I don't know, they do look cute together…" Jazzy scratched her head, "but that isn't my choice"

"I guess I am a bit curious…" Chizel admitted.

"Come with me Chizel!" I took his hand and nuzzled his shoulder

"Uh… um… I-I guess… a p-peek won't hurt" Chizel turned pink

"Yay!" I dragged him with me to follow Char and Dylan.

"Hey! Wait for us!" Jazzy and Leon ran after us.

-Author's Notes-

Hey guys, I'm back! It was so miserable without a computer. I can't believe it took so long to get it fixed. I wrote two or three chapters for each story. I hope I can write some more and update once per week again. I thank you for your patiences. If you don't like story, thanks for at least giving it a shot.

Anyways how is everything? and thanks for reading!


	29. Sharing is Caring

Char and Dylan entered the bakery. Char's eyes sparkled as she gleefully looked at all the desserts.

"Wow, everything looks so pretty!" Char beamed.

"Well, choose something" Dylan smiled.

"Huh?"

"I got some money from Mango… So, I can get you something"

"Oh, you don't have to do that! You should save it."

"But I want to. You looked so happy eating that mousse, so yeah."

"I really shouldn't…"

"I'm not taking 'no' for an answer"

She flashed pink and smiled. She looked around some more and stopped at a picture of a large crepe.

"How about this?" She pointed at the strawberry crepe, "So, we can share it. I would feel guilty if you spent it all on me."

"Oh, um, sure okay. We'll have one of those" Dylan smiled

"Coming right up" the storekeeper replied

They sat down at the table. Char looked around, and fidgeted with her tentacles. Dylan watched her and twiddled his thumbs.

"So um how was the slide?" Char asked still looking away from him.

"It was fun… How was the lazy river?"

"Well, it was nice… very relaxing."

"So umm uh, what do you like?"

"Like? Um, what do you mean?"

"Your favorite things, um food, stuff like that"

"I like sweets I guess. I love stuffed animals, and cute stuff"

"Really?! I saw games we can play to get some"

"But those games are rigged, you can waste so much cash trying to get a prize. Unless you are Leon anyways."

"We won't know until we try"

"Here you go," the storekeeper placed a huge crepe, filled with sweet whipped cream and fresh strawberries, in front of us.

She placed two spoons and napkins on the table, and walked away. Char took the spoons and handed one to Dylan. She took a spoonful and smiled.

"It's delicious!" She squealed, "Here try some!"

He took a spoonful and smiled. They happily ate the crepe together. They got closer together to eat more comfortably. Leon, Jazzy, Chizel, and I watched from afar in the bushes. Chizel eagerly watch them. He didn't seem to notice his hand was on mine. I was squealing in my head. I happily nuzzled against him. He looked over at me and turned pink.

"Oh! Sorry Mango" Chizel moved over a bit.

"Don't be… Chizel" I nuzzled him against him again

He turned red and cleared his throat. Char and Dylan finished their crepe and looked at each other.

"You know I never seen purple eyes before" Dylan looked into her eyes

"Oh, really?" Char turned pink, "They are pretty common..."

"They're beautiful…"

They were just inches from each other's face. Char smiled and bashfully looked away. Dylan sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. They started to leave to play some games. Dylan grabbed her hand.

"Could we hold hands? I don't wanna get lost here" He lied as he scratched his cheek.

"O-oh okay" She flashed pink and they walked together.

We followed them to a game corner. Char looked at a Great Zapfish plushie. It looked very fluffy. She smiled and continued walking.

"You like that doll don't you?" Dylan asked her

"What? No, it's just cute…" She replied

"Okay, I'll get it for you"

"What? No way it's too hard…"

"You saved and risked your life to keep me safe. This is nothing… I told you before, I'm not taking 'no' for an answer"

Char flashed pink and sighed in defeat. Dylan handed a coin to the gamekeeper. He handed him a basket of rings. He tossed a ring into the bottle pit, it bounced out. He tossed another and it caught into a red bottle. Char smiled and clapped for him. He tossed another and it bounced off. The other two bounced off too.

"See I told you…" Char patted his back

"There must be a game…where I can win you a big prize…." Dylan rubbed his arm.

"You don't have to do that…"

"I do! You already did so much for me… How can I ever repay you?"

"I just don't work like that… I don't want anything in return"

She took his hand again and they started walking again. Until Dylan stopped at a balloon dart game.

"One more try…" He looked at Char, "Just give me one more"

"If you say so," Char sighed and stepped back.

Dylan handed the gamekeeper cash and got 5 darts. He took one and tossed it. It missed and got stuck onto the board. He tried again and observed the dart's flight path. It hit one of the balloons. Char smiled and clapped. He smirked and tossed the dart at an angle. It popped several balloons. He popped nearly all of them with the remaining darts. Char dropped her jaws.

"Well great work lil man what which of the big prizes would you like?" the gamekeeper clapped

"That one" Dylan pointed to a Giant Zapfish fluffy plushie.

"Ah, that one huh? Nice choice" The gamekeeper brought it down and handed it to Dylan.

Dylan proudly walked back to Char. She smiled and clapped for him. He held it out to her. Char flashed pink and took it. She hugged and hid her face into it. Dylan smiled and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

We peeked over from the arcade. Jazzy, Chizel and I were all happy for them. I was hoping for them to kiss now. Leon came back from the prize counter with an octopus and a squid plushie. He looked over at them. He looked away for a bit, but smiled after a bit.

"Hey… I just realize, um it's getting kinda dark," Jazzy replied, "Ya know how long we've been here or what time it is?"

"Oh man… It's almost 7:30" Chizel bit his lip as he looked over at the time, "The park will close soon. That and Robin is waiting for us"

"Well, let's bounce then!"

"But we have to act like we didn't follow them!" I winked, "You don't want them to separate now do you?"

"Whatever come on! We really need to go!" Leon ran ahead

We ran after him and made it look like we were searching for Char and Dylan the whole time. We quickly got our stuff and got changed in the changing room. We rushed out to the parking lot. Robin was waiting in a grey minivan.

"Ah, there you are. Did you guys all have fun?" Robin smiled

"Yeah!" I smiled as everyone climbed into the van.

"Hey, Mango? Varday told me to tell you that you will be handling the store for a while"

"Huh, wait why?"

"He said he had to go do something somewhere. He wasn't very specific about it"

"That's odd… Varday usually doesn't leave the shop to do his job. Guess, he has his reasons"

Everyone looked at each other. Robin started driving. Everyone was chatting at first. Soon everyone became tired and fell asleep. Char rested against Dylan side as he wrapped his arm around her. She happily snuggled against her plushie. I got to snap a picture of them and bonus ones for Leon and Chizel's sleepy faces. Today was a good day.

-Author's Notes-

School's gonna start up soon. It's kinda bittersweet. Oh well, I'm pretty sure I can make time for writing. If I can't I'll probably just say so in advance. I just ask that you don't rush me. I know what I said about updating at least once a week, but stuff can happen. So please understand.

Anyways how is everything? Should I fix anything? Thanks for reading!


	30. A New Day

Dylan's POV

I woke up in my room, with the sun shining into my face. Yesterday, felt like a dream. I jumped out of bed and got changed into new clothes. I wanted to see my friends again. It was kinda uncomfortable being alone here.

"My, you are up earlier today," Marigo smiled as she sipped her tea at the table.

"M-M-Marigo! How long… have you been standing there?" I felt my cheeks heat up.

"Haha, don't tell me you didn't notice me. I guess, considering you got changed right in front of me, no right?"

"Oh man… I'm so sorry!"

"Don't worry about it, Kiddo. I actually have something for you. Come here a minute, okay?"

"Okay, what is it?" I sat down across from her.

"Here, you go. A modified squid phone." She took my hand and put an arrow shaped phone in my hand, "We managed to get your number system on it and your… um… is it inglish? Eenglewss? Whatever they are called, symbols despite not understanding what they mean."

I opened the phone up and it had numbers and letters that I recognized.

"Wow, this is in English"

"English, there it is… Yes, I had Verday put it together for you. I don't want you to feel trapped or alone so I figured I should let you go out freely."

"You mean it?!" I felt my heart beat faster with excitement.

"Yes, just make sure you put on the disguise ring when you go out. I don't want others to flip out. At the same time, you will only be miserable if you are trapped here. I saw how happy you were going out with everyone. So I decided to give these to you so that you can go out more. Let's call it a birthday present, since… I don't know when your birthday is."

"Marigo… Thank you…" I felt like crying from sheer joy as I hugged her, "Thank you so much"

Marigo seemed surprised at first, but she returned the hug and messed my hair.

"Be sure to not come home too late okay, kiddo?" She smiled, "Call me if there is anything you need. Go have fun, kiddo."

"I will!" I kissed her cheek and ran out the door, "Thanks, Mom!"

"M-mom?" Marigo seemed speechless, "That…. Doesn't sound so bad…"

I activated the ring and ran outside. It was a bright and beautiful day. The sea breeze was nice and cool. I felt so alive and happy that I didn't watch where I was going. The next second, I found myself on my butt with Leon sitting across from me. He seemed dazed with a red bump on his forehead.

"Wow… you have a hard head… buddy…" Leon rubbed his forehead.

"Leon?" I asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Dylan. I just wanted to hang out, so I thought I come see you. Didn't think I would bump into you outside."

"Mom gave me permission to go out and a phone!"

"Mom?" Leon seemed confused.

"Marigo. She always takes care of me soo, yeah."

"Oh, okay." Leon scratched the back of his head, "I was going to hang with you anyway, but seeing that you are outside…. What do you wanna do?"

"I wanted to hang out with with everyone"

"Ah, well, Jazzy and Chizel are helping out their families…. Char had to do something so… it's just me…" He rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh, that's… too bad… Then I have a better idea. Leon, show me around! I want to see everything!"

"Huh?" his ears perked up, "Alright, I'll show you everything in Inkopolis!"

"Come on! Let's go, Leon!"

He walked side by side with me to the train station. He excitedly showed me everything in the train station, including how to purchase tickets and tap cards. As Leon was purchasing a new tap card for me, I noticed a strange "Inkling" wearing strange soaked clothes. They seemed to be sneaking around, or at least trying to blend in. I couldn't help but stare at them.

"I got it!" Leon happily ran back to me, "Huh? What's up?"

"Hey, does that kid seem weird?" I asked, "He is completely soaked and covered up… Don't you guys pop in water?"

"Yes, if the amount of water is more than our body's, we will pop, or splat in other words. Taking showers or baths are fine too. Just not too long or we will get unhealthy."

"Well, they are acting funny… They seem to be taking magazines and muttering to themselves a lot..."

"Hey, buddy!" Leon walked up to him.

"Leon! I didn't mean confront them!"

"EEP!" the strange kid jumped up, "I'M JUST A NORMAL INKLING I SWEAR!"

"Errr… what?" Leon raised his eyebrows.

"I'm just a n-normal i-i-inkling boy…."

"Really…..?" Leon crossed his arms, "It's not every day a kid has to clarify what he is…"

"H-hey come on! E-e-everyone doesn't have to be… the same! Oh, I got to go!" He dashed away.

"Hey!" Leon shouted at the kid.

"Leon, something seems off about him…." I whispered, "I don't like how suspicious he is acting… You think he could be working for Luscas?"

"We can't take any chances, let's go, Dylan!"

"Right!" We followed after the strange kid.

-Author's Notes-

Um, hello. It's been a while... a long one. Well, I'm hoping to continue this story. I'll see if I can start update regularly again. Hopefully, I'll work on this one more than the other one. We'll see. Thank you for reading and your support for all this time.


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